Region: Angola

A Dutch energy company owned by embattled Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos has been placed into bankruptcy by a court in the Netherlands, in the wake of an arbitral tribunal’s finding that it acquired assets worth €650 million through “grand corruption”.

23 September 2021

With tensions between Iran and Bahrain running high in part owing to recent criminal verdicts and an ongoing treaty arbitration, the Central Bank of Iran has reported that it has begun a fresh claim of around US$1 billion against Bahrain over investments in the banking sector allegedly lost in the aftermath of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

09 August 2021

An international consortium including Italy’s Eni has lost an arbitration against the operator of a liquefied natural gas facility in Mississippi over a long-term contract allegedly frustrated by the shale gas revolution in the United States.

30 July 2021

UPDATED WITH AWARD: A Dutch-seated tribunal has ordered an entity owned by billionaire Isabel dos Santos to return shares worth over €650 million to Angola’s national oil and gas company, ruling they were acquired illegally.

27 July 2021

An emergency arbitrator at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has refused to hear an imprisoned businessman’s request for relief against Angola ahead of a bilateral investment treaty claim on the basis that she lacked jurisdiction.

21 June 2021

A Paris court has upheld a US$646 million award against a company owned by embattled Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos – ruling that the ICC was right to appoint the five-member tribunal that heard the case and dismissing allegations of bias against two arbitrators.

27 January 2021

General Electric has filed two ICC claims against an African energy company that accuses it of encouraging the Angolan government to terminate a power plant project worth US$1.1 billion.

06 October 2020

A Dutch court has frozen assets controlled by the husband of embattled Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos in support of two arbitrations over a share purchase that is the subject of a criminal investigation for alleged money laundering and embezzlement.

22 September 2020

The High Court of the British Virgin Islands has enforced a US$646 million award against a company owned by beleaguered Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, finding that the ICC Court was right to appoint all five members of the arbitral tribunal itself.

18 August 2020

UPDATED WITH TRIBUNAL: Angola has defeated a US$850 million claim by a company linked to the billionaire daughter of the country’s former president, which arose out of a port concession contract that was never signed.

14 July 2020