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All Africa | 25 February 2020
Mauritius: Arbitration proceedings between Thomas Gosling and others - All claims dismissed
Press release by Government of Mauritius (Port Louis)
The Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Maneesh Gobin, made a statement, yesterday, in the National Assembly pertaining to the arbitration proceedings between Thomas Gosling; Property Partnerships Development Managers (UK) Limited; Property Partnerships Developments (Mauritius) Ltd; Property Partnerships Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd; TG Investments ltd; and Mauritius on the dispute of two areas in Mauritius, namely at Le Morne Brabant and Pointe Jérôme.
The case, he said concerns a dispute submitted to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on the basis of the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Mauritius for the Promotion and Protection of Investments which entered into force in October 1986 (the "BIT") and the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the "ICSID Convention").
The Tribunal, he said, decided, by majority, to dismiss all claims on the merits and also ordered that each party shall pay for its own arbitration costs; and 50% of the fees and expenses of the members of the Tribunal and the administrative fees and direct expenses of the ICSID Secretariat.
The Minister added that the proceedings were held in Washington and were closed in February this year. The applicable laws applied by the Tribunal were the provisions of the BIT as interpreted in accordance to the rules of interpretation set forth in Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties, he said.
He indicated that the Claimants claimed that Mauritius had violated Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the BIT in relation to their investments in Le Morne and Pointe Jerôme projects and prayed the Tribunal to order Mauritius to pay damages and compensation to the tune of EUR 18 million and EUR 5.7 million respectively for both projects as well as, interests and costs.
The Attorney General further mentioned that the Tribunal found that Mauritius was within its contractual rights to cancel the lease and concluded that the lessee had breached the Lease and that Government had the right to cancel the lease de plein droit as permitted by the terms of the Lease and, therefore, without exercising any other rights than its contractual rights.