Issue #5: Power, Power, Balls & Trouble
Happy Monday!
So... this is me doing a cheeky cross-promo announcement 🙊
Apart from Overheard, I also run a podcast called So This Is My Why ("STIMY"), which features inspiring people about how they've built their lives/careers, and the kind of legacy that they want to leave behind.
David Grief, former Senior Clerk at Essex Court Chambers, was a former STIMY guest! And recently, David spoke on a panel during Asia ADR Week in Kuala Lumpur & shared his experience here.
What caught my eye?
The fact that David considered Malaysia to have a great "product" (e.g. arbitration-friendly legal framework & solid pool of English-speaking talents), but that Malaysian lawyers weren't very known in international circles.
The solution = marketing
Kinda like what we're doing here in highlighting interesting people & cases, eh? 😉
Now onto our 🌶 headlines:
China: MMG Limited (subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned mining company) plans to launch an ICC arbitration in Paris & Geneva against a Congolese state mining company (further details below)
Thailand: The founder of Thailand's biggest wind power operator is seeking USD 1.5 billion at a London fraud trial (further details below)
See you in 2 weeks' time!
Ling Yah
Who owns these mines ?
MMG Limited, the subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned mining company, plans to launch an ICC arbitration in Paris and Geneva against Gécamines - a Congolese state mining company.
🤔 Why?
MMG was involved in the USD 550 - 600 million expansion of its Kinsevere copper-cobalt operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In July and September 2022, DRC armed forces allegedly occupied 2 mining leases that form part of said expansion - Nambulwa & Sokoshe II. 😱
🤔 Why would Gécamines do such a thing?
Apparently, Gécamines signed research contracts with 3rd parties for both sites, justifying the occupation by armed forces. 🤷🏻♀️
Right now…
MMG has been able to reenter & resume work at Nambulwa, but remain barred from Sokoshe II.
Pre-stripping works have apparently already commenced at Sokoshe II.
Given the presence of armed forces, we’ll be keeping an 👀 on this with our 🦺 on from a safe distance
2 sides to a coin
Noppon Suppipat, the founder of Wind Energy Holding Co Ltd (“Wind Energy”) - Thailand’s biggest wind power power - is seeking USD 1.5 billion at a London fraud trial.
🚨 Noppon’s claim:
Nop Narongdej (former manager of Wind Energy), several other individuals & entities including Siam Commercial Bank deliberately undervalued his shares in Wind Energy & manipulated key documents between 2014 to 2018.
Noppon was thus “fraudulently induced” into selling 60% of his shares & never paid their true value. 😰
This, on top of the criminal charges he faced for alleging insulting the King & Queen (according to Noppon, they’re politically motivated).
🚨 Other side of the coin:
Nop claims that Noppon is running a “dishonest” media campaign to pressure Nop into settling his USD 1.5 billion fraud claim.
In actuality, Noppon had failed to sell his shares to 25 different parties before Nop purchased them. The value of shares that Noppon had in mind was thus “unrealistic”.
There’s always 2 sides to a story, eh?
It’s going to be quite the battle.
The trial itself will be 17-weeks long & Wind Energy is delaying its IPO until at least 2024 until the case is resolved! 😳
Lawyers at a Ball?!
No one likes taxes.
But when it's applied retrospectively + comes to a whooping USD 111 million bill, you get this 👇🏻
What happened?
Digicel PNG (a Caribbean-based mobile network operator & home entertainment provider) filed proceedings in the ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) over a new Papua New Guinean tax law - the Additional Company Tax ("ACT").
The ACT - which had retrospective effect - left Digicel with a tax bill amounting to:
a one-off levy of PGK 350 million (USD 97 million); and
further penalty charge of PGK 50 million (USD 14.2 million) for non-payment.
While Digicel's proceedings are still pending hearing...
Other Challengers
The ACT is also being challenged by:
Opposition Leader, Hon Belden Namah, and
BSP Financial Group in Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court
who want the ACT declared unconstitutional.
Looks like it's not all sunshine & beaches in the Caribbean.
We're fresh off ICCA Edinburgh and already (!!), heading to our next event: the Hong Kong Arbitration Week from 24- 28 October.
As Daniel Boon told us in his recap of what ICCA was like, a hot tip when attending such events is: Plan WELL ahead.💪🏻
So we've planned.
And invited Hong Kong-based lawyer, Elizabeth Chan, back to give us some 🌶 tips on how to maximise your time at Hong Kong Arbitration Week!
1. What's the event you're most excited about & why?
HK Arbitration Charity Ball on 26 October - it's gonna be a great party!
Best of all, it's also for a great cause - fundraising for local charities.
2. What else can we do?
Participate in Arbitration Idol x HKACB x HK45! And stand a chance to win a digital coffee with a leading arbitration practitioner
Join HK Legal Walk x HK Arbitration Week & walk for a good cause 👣! You'll hit the HKIAC, High Court & Court of Appeal before ending with a fireside chat with Lord Neuberger
Join ArbitralWomen & Allies Connect for pilates, breakfast & networking!
3. If you were to organise one more talk, it would be...
A workshop on basic coding for arbitration practitioners.
Spotlight - Mariel Dimsey
⚒️ What do you do?
I am currently the Secretary-General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC"), working on several wonderful initiatives to promote Hong Kong as a great place to do arbitration!
🏆 What is your proudest professional achievement?
Professionally, I was absolutely chuffed when I got my first arbitrator appointment in 2009.
I still remember the mixture of absolute pride and overwhelming terror as I sat on the banks of the Main in Frankfurt with two friends and a bottle of wine 🍷.
⌛ There are now 25 hours in a day! How do you spend your extra hour?
Either out in the fresh air, or asleep! 💤
🚀 If you weren't a lawyer, what would you do?
One of those travel/food shows, where you get paid to see the world/eat wonderful food 🍲 (on the latter, see next question below).
😋 Your favourite food haunt (bonus points if it's off the beaten track!)
Where do I start?! So many places, so little time. Here we go:
- Petrichor in Brisbane, Australia
- L’Escale in Remigny, France (this is where the attached photo was taken)
- La Pequena Lulu, Los Canos de Meca, Spain
- anything mala in China, preferably drenched in a fiery soup 🍜
Food Feature
We're big foodies here, so we had to serve up another feast!
Today's feast is a dish called "nasi ambeng" & can be found at Congkak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Congkak is a restaurant that serves up traditional Nusantara cuisines.
Nasi Ambeng is one of its star dishes, and comes loaded with proteins like begedil, rendang, fried tempeh, and a variety of vegetable dishes. It's perfect for sharing… Or for 1 very hungry person 🙊.
Fun fact: Congkak is a traditional game conventionally played using rubber seeds or glass marbles in Malaysia. And the restaurant has 1 or more congkak for you to play too!
Details: Google Maps, Facebook
Are you a student or young lawyer?
Want to get involved in helping to run Overheard? Meet senior practitioners? Do legal research with real world impact?
We're always looking for bright, young talent like yourself so if you're interested, give us a holler at editor@overheard.asia!
Special thanks to Overheard in Asia's sponsor:
David Grief was described as "the Law's Middleman" (Business Times, 2021). You can reach out to him at dg@davidgrief.com if you need help identifying the right lawyer, arbitrator or expert for your matters, or even if you just want to grab a drink 🍵🍺 with someone who has managed and mentored lawyers for almost 5️⃣0️⃣ years!