A lawsuit has been filed in London's High Court in a US$400 million shareholder dispute over the ownership of the Afghanistan based mobile phone network, Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC).
International law firm Steptoe & Johnson confirmed that they have issued High Court proceedings on behalf of four clients who are suing Telephone Systems International (TSI), Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC), which is a joint venture with the Afghan Ministry of Communications, Ehsanollah Bayat and Mark Warner in the shareholder dispute.
The Claimants are three British individuals, Lord Michael Cecil, Mr Stuart Bentham and Mr Alexander Grinling together with a Swiss national, Mr Joakim Lehmkuhl which the legal firm says set up the first commercial mobile telephony company in Afghanistan in 1998/1999 together with Ehsanollah Bayat.
The Claimants say that Bayat has wrongfully denied them their shares in the company, and have issued a claim of at least US$400million, being the estimated value of their shareholding together with a proportionate share of businesses and assets acquired or set up by Bayat, such as the Ariana Television Network and the Bayat Foundation, using the companies' money, including money and/or assets it is claimed to belong to the litigants.
Although AWCC is Afghan based and the holding company, TSI, is based in New Jersey, USA with offices in Delhi and Dubai, the claim has been brought in London because that is where the contract was made in 1998 and therefore in English law there is a presumption that English law should determine their shareholder rights.
The claims, which include fraud, conspiracy, deceit and breach of trust, are also brought against a former shareholder, Mark Warner, a self-employed private banker and a British national with homes in London, New York and the Caribbean. The Claimants' case is that the Defendants have previously filed documents under oath with the US Federal Communications Commission acknowledging that at least two of the Claimants have shares in the New Jersey holding company.
Steptoe & Johnson International Dispute Resolution Partner Adam Greaves is leading the case.
Posted to the site on 20th April 2009
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