Region: Gabon

The French Court of Cassation is poised to rule on whether an allegedly corrupt “wedding gift” to Libreville’s former mayor justified the annulment of an ICC award against Gabon – a case that practitioners hope will settle controversy over the French courts’ approach to corruption allegations. Kevin Cubeddu of Latham & Watkins, who attended the court hearing last month, reports.

14 March 2024

A Spanish infrastructure company has asked a US court to enforce a €12.5 million ICC award against Gabon over a failed project to upgrade a football stadium for the Africa Cup of Nations.

13 October 2023

A UK-based energy company has asked a US court to freeze US$151 million in funds held by Citibank pending an ICC arbitration with Chad over an oil pipeline venture – putting an emergency arbitrator order in the public domain.

04 September 2023

A Paris court has overturned a US$180 million ICC award against Gabon after finding sufficient evidence that public works contracts at the heart of the dispute were procured through corruption – including the alleged delivery to a minister of a cash-stuffed Louis Vuitton bag.

06 April 2022

A French court has annulled a €90 million ICC award against Gabon after finding that a Maltese construction company’s gift of a luxury honeymoon trip to a public official was a “serious indication of corruption”.

26 May 2021

A subsidiary of Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has launched a US$43 million arbitration against Gabon’s national oil company over a gas field project.

19 March 2021

The Central African state of Gabon has agreed to pay over US$27.4 million to a Turkish construction company to satisfy an ICC award and bring an end to US enforcement proceedings.

19 December 2019

An ICC tribunal has ordered Gabon to pay US$170 million to a recently deceased businessman’s company for work on infrastructure projects after finding the state had failed to prove its allegations of corruption.

27 November 2019

An ICC tribunal has reportedly dismissed the bulk of a €67 million contractual claim by a Spanish construction company against Gabon relating to a road project – while another arbitration over a sports arena continues.

04 October 2019

A US court will allow Gabon to contest enforcement of a US$47 million ICC award in favour of a Turkish construction company – removing an entry of default it had issued after the state had failed to respond or appear in the proceedings for five months.

12 September 2019