In a new development in the dispute between La Samir Company, Morocco and Saudi investor Mohamed Al Amoudi, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has announced the ” fence ” of the procedure in the case where the company Corral Maroc Holding is requesting significant compensation from the Moroccan State. This means that the dispute between the Saudi investor Al Amoudi and Morocco is now under deliberation for the delivery of the judgment.
The Tribunal announced on June 18, 2024 the termination of the proceedings pursuant to Article 38(1) of the ICSID Arbitration Rules, marking an important step towards the resolution of this case pending since October 2018. This case involves the company ” Corral Maroc“, the main shareholder of La Samir and subsidiary of ” Corral Holding Sweden“, owned by Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi, a Saudi-Ethiopian businessman based in Stockholm.
Article 38(1) of the ICSID Arbitration Rules provides that the tribunal may declare the proceedings closed if the parties have taken no steps in the case for a certain period of time, if they have reached an agreement to end the dispute, or if the tribunal decides that the proceedings are terminated and there is no need to continue them.
The Saudi investor is demanding $1.5 billion in compensation from the Moroccan state for his oil group, accusing the Moroccan government of causing heavy financial losses to his company by failing to respect the investment promotion agreement signed between Morocco and Sweden.
In June 2016, the Casablanca Commercial Court of Appeal upheld the first instance judgment ordering the liquidation of the oil refining company La Samir, due to its debt crisis that exceeds 43 billion dirhams. The company owes 13 billion dirhams to customs, 10 billion to Moroccan banks and 20 billion to foreign banks.
The liquidation aims to sell the La Samir refinery as well as its subsidiaries, properties and hotels, in addition to the assets of the company’s former managers, mainly Saudi businessman Mohammed Al Amoudi, former general manager.
These developments come as a series of Moroccan organizations continue to demand the reopening of La Samir through various solutions, including the transfer of the company’s assets to the Moroccan state.
Houssine Yamani, president of the National Front for the Rescue of the Moroccan Oil Refinery, said that the losses in the La Samir case could reach 70 billion dirhams. He stressed that the absence of oil refining at the Mohammedia refinery has deprived Morocco of the possibility of accumulating net profits of at least 22 billion dirhams since 2016, when the refinery was shut down, until the end of 2023, not counting other social, financial and monetary benefits.
Additionally, according to Yamani, “ The value of the refinery’s assets, which are deteriorating day by day, risks falling to zero if the refinery is not restarted quickly. This value, estimated by the court’s experts at 21 billion dirhams, could be lost, without taking into account the material and immaterial benefits that Morocco would lose in the event of the definitive closure of this national monument.« .
Yamani added that ” allowing the deterioration of the refinery and not intervening to save it could constitute sufficient evidence for the parties in conflict with Morocco during international arbitration, which could result in the loss of the case opened against the former owner of La Samir, and cause another loss of at least 27 billion dirhams« .
