In a written statement e-mailed to Arab News from
Washington last week, AHAB attorney Eric Lewis said the court's July 29
decision was not based on the merits of Al-Gosaibi's claims against Al-Sanea.
"The court simply decided that the case would be more conveniently heard
elsewhere," he said.
According to a copy of the court verdict, Presiding
Justice Richard B. Lowe III found that "the exercise of long-arm
jurisdiction over Al-Sanea and Saad Trading comports with due process notions
of fair play and substantial justice."
The judge explained that the court had jurisdiction
because Al-Sanea and Saad Trading "made New York the epicenter of several
large scale financial transfers" and "having made the choice to use
New York banks, they may not escape the imposition of jurisdiction."
"Despite this finding, the judge decided the case
between Al-Gosaibi and Al-Sanea would more conveniently be tried elsewhere than
New York," said Lewis.
Justice Lowe said that the New York Supreme Court should
not be the place to resolve the dispute, adding that such cases should be heard
in a Middle East venue. The justice also noted that many of the witnesses do not
reside in New York and it may be more convenient for them to appear in a Middle
Eastern court.
"(The justice's) dismissal (of the lawsuit) is on
grounds of 'forum non conveniens,' which is a purely procedural decision and
not a ruling in any way on the merits of Al-Gosaibi's claims against
Al-Sanea," Lewis said.
Some of the documents at issue in the case were drafted
under the laws of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and both the plaintiff
and defendant are based in Saudi Arabia, which led the New York Supreme Court
to recommend that any suits be initiated in those court systems dependent on
the specific litigation.
According to Al-Gosaibi's lawyer, "the New York
court's ruling highlights a dangerous gap in oversight of the US financial
system, where foreign parties can use New York banks to perpetrate massive
financial fraud but escape scrutiny simply by residing abroad and engineering
the wrongdoing from there."
Al-Gosaibi took action against Al-Sanea after the UAE's
Al-Mashreq Bank filed a lawsuit claiming AHAB owed them $225 million in
foreign-exchange transactions, which could not be completed after the group
reportedly posted disastrous results in the first quarter of 2009.
The Saad Group welcomed the New York court's decision,
claiming that it had frequently requested to refer the case to Saudi courts.
Lewis said he would seek redress of the verdict in the
United States but did not comment about filings in the GCC states.
