Yesterday’s ruling of the Nicosia District Court, rejects the application filed on 14 August 2014 by Mr Ayoud Farid Michel Saab and Mr Fadi Michel Saab to issue an interim order to, inter alia, suspend the power and / or execution and / or implementation of the Decree issued by the Resolution Authority on the implementation of resolution measures in the branch of FBME Bank Ltd in Cyprus.
According to the application filed in the Court on 14 August 2014, the interim order was requested to support the process of international arbitration finally submitted in late October 2014 by the applicants in the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce against the Republic of Cyprus, by which they demanded compensation under the provisions of the Agreement on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments between the Lebanese Republic and the Republic of Cyprus.
The Court documents its ruling on a number of reasons, both of a procedural and substantive nature. The Court ruled, inter alia, that the applicants did not fall within the term "investor" as defined in the above Agreement between the Lebanese Republic and the Republic of Cyprus. Furthermore, the Court stated that there is no transparency in relation to the shareholding structure of FBME Bank Ltd.
It is to be reminded that on 8 August 2014, the Supreme Court rejected a similar application filed by FBME Bank Ltd of Tanzania for a preliminary injunction to suspend the decision to implement resolution measures in the branch of FBME Bank Ltd in Cyprus.
Attached is the full text of the Court’s decision (in Greek only).