Seychelles' Supreme Court dismisses applications from Vijay Construction in Savoy Resort and Spa case

The Eastern European Engineering, a company registered in Seychelles hired Vijay to carry out construction work for Savoy Hotel in 2011. (File photo: Savoy Resort and Spa) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles' Supreme Court on Friday dismissed two applications made by the Vijay Construction company in the case versus the owner of Savoy Resort and Spa.

The applications brought forth on Monday by the lawyer of Vijay Construction, Bernard Georges, was partly asking the Supreme Court for 'leave' to appeal against the condition that the court had imposed to the Court of Appeal.

Another application was asking the court to change the condition that it has imposed due to the inability of the construction company to meet it. The condition was that the construction company should provide the court with a bank guarantee equating to the sum of the judgment of €20 million within the period of 14 days.

Justice Ellen Carolus who is presiding over the case dismissed the applications saying that the Supreme Court no longer has jurisdiction to consider them given that it was submitted after the date given to produce the guarantee before the court.

The lawyers of both parties gave no comment on the dismissal of the applications.

According to the ruling of June 30 by Justice Carolus, Vijay Construction was to pay EEEL a little over €16.6 million in line with a UK court order from 2015 as well as €3.56 million in interest.

Following an application from the Vijay Construction, Justice Carolus suspended the execution of the judgment under the monetary condition while Vijay Construction furthers his case before the Court of Appeal on Friday, July 24.

However, George told SNA that the Court of Appeal last Friday took the view that "I could not come directly to them as I have to seek the permission of the Supreme Court. The appeals court argued that they have no jurisdiction to hear the case without the seeking permission of the Supreme Court. This is a technical issue."

The Eastern European Engineering, a company registered in Seychelles and a subsidiary of holding company Guta group with headquarters in Russia, hired Vijay to carry out construction work for Savoy Hotel in 2011 through six contracts. All of the contracts had similar arbitration clauses, which provided that any dispute, disagreement or claim would be settled by arbitration in Paris.

The company filed a Request for Arbitration in September 2012 before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and received a sole arbitrator award in November 2014.

The costs to be incurred by Vijay Construction for breaking the contract were never paid partly because the award was not enforceable until Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, became party to the 1958 New York Convention earlier this year.