An Air Tanzania plane has been seized in the Netherlands after a Swedish firm won a $165 million award against Tanzania due to revoked land title in the Bagamoyo sugar project.
On Wednesday, the government spoke on the same matter, saying there was an attachment of an ATCL plane by a Dutch court.
The Country’s Attorney General Dr Eliezer Feleshi, further clarified the matter, stating that they had everything under control.
A Swedish firm that won a $165 million award against Tanzania had persuaded the court to uphold the attachment of the aircraft despite the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) having issued a stay of execution, pending annulment proceedings.
“It’s true that they went to court in the Netherlands after we had successfully appealed to the ICSID for a stay of execution. Everything is under control,” he said.
Dr Feleshi added that the government had already appealed against the Dutch court’s decision but declined to offer further details.
“I can’t disclose further details…let’s be patient as the matter is in court.”
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Tanzania has turned to Buren Legal for the attachment proceedings but has not appointed an external counsel in the arbitration or annulment proceedings.
Tanzania has argued that the attachment is unlawful because it was obtained a day after the State had petitioned the ICSID to annul EcoDevelopment’s award.
The Swedish company is using the legal firm Houthoff in the Dutch courts, and Mannheimer Swartling in the ICSID proceedings.
The judge reasoned that the ICSID’s provisional stay of execution of the award only took effect on the date the institution registered the state’s annulment request.