ACCRA, Ghana: A judge in Ghana on Thursday rejected a bid by Argentina to have one of its warships released from a port near Accra, where it is being held under a court order linked to a debt dispute.
“No sufficient basis has been made been made by the applicant (Argentina) to set aside this court order. The motion is dismissed,” said Judge Richard Adjei Frimpong of the Commercial Court in Accra.
The frigate Libertad was seized on Oct. 2 under a court order linked to claims by creditors NML Capital, which are suing Buenos Aires over its 2002 bond default.
Lawyers acting for Argentina have argued that as a military vessel, the Libertad enjoyed immunity. The frigate with 200 crew arrived in Ghana for a training mission.
NML Capital has argued that Argentina waived its immunity linked to the debt at issue under an accord called a Fiscal Agency Agreement (FAA), and the Ghanaian court on Thursday agreed.
“I find that the defendant in clear terms waived the immunity through the FAA agreement,” said Frimpong.
Larry Otu, the lawyer representing the Argentine government, said the Libertad needed to refuel so that it can continue to run its power generators and the court asked the two sides to reach an accommodation in this and other logistical issues.
The judge further urged the two sides to attempt to negotiate a resolution and a subsequent hearing date was not immediately set.
Between 2005 and 2010 Argentina refinanced and rescheduled its repayment of 93 percent of the almost $100 billion default it incurred in 2001.
Among the unsettled business were bonds held by speculative funds seeking to recoup their money through the courts.
Argentina also has more than $6.5 billion in debt with the Paris Club of government creditors.
Buenos Aires has said that Ghana’s seizure of the Libertad “is against the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity”.
The Latin American nation has accused the bondholders, sometimes called ‘vulture funds’, of perpetrating a fraud in Ghanaian courts, while port officials in Ghana have said they are compelled to honour the domestic court’s ruling.
FROM: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Argentina’s warship appeal rejected
