Dubai-based developer Damac Properties has rejected an Egyptian court’s judgement regarding the company’s purchase of lands in the Red Sea resort area stating there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Damac Properties, has instructed international counsel to file an arbitration claim against Egypt at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a company statement said.

The international arbitration is the result of the judgement of the recent Egyptian court case that centred on the 2006 purchase by Damac Properties of 30 million sq m of land along Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Damac Properties alleged that Egypt is responsible for a series of blatant violations of the 1997 bilateral investment treaty between the UAE and Egypt.

Because the 2006 Agreement for the sale of land at Gamsha Bay was executed under the direction of former Minister Garranah, Sajwani and Damac Properties were implicated by association in Egypt’s on-going efforts to criminally prosecute and convict former members of Mubarak’s Government, the statement said.

According to Damac Properties, the Egyptian judgement was politically motivated, the result of a political “campaign of persecution” against any businessman who conducted business with the former Mubarak Government.

Damac will make appropriate statements as the case develops, according to the company statement. – TradeArabia News Service