Kuwait’s Kharafi Group Wins $930m From Libya

Libya will have to pay Kuwait’s Kharafi group $930 million in damages for former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s cancelling of the construction of a vacation resort, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Monday.

M. A. Kharafi and Sons, a company owned by one of Gulf state’s biggest merchant families, won the award in arbitration proceedings via the Arab League, al-Rai newspaper said, without giving its source.

Officials at Kharafi, which owns National Industries Group (NIG), National Investments Co., Al Mal Investment Co. and a stake in telecoms, were not immediately available for comment on the report, which was also in al-Qabas and al-Jarida newspapers.

The Kuwaiti group signed a contract in 2006 with late leader Gaddafi’s government to build the resort in Tripoli, which would have included hotel accommodation, villas and a shopping mall, the reports said.

The company spent money on feasibility studies, design and management contracts up until 2010, until Libya cancelled the deal, the newspapers said. An uprising in 2011 eventually led to Gaddaffi’s death and his government’s fall late that year.

The Kharafi group claimed it had lost 90 years worth of revenue in the deal and used a joint investment protection agreement from the Arab League for the case, the newspapers said.