Top International Engineering seeks court order . . . To wind up Euroget De-Invest over $3.8million judgment debt
Top International Engineering (Ghana) Limited has filed a petition at the High Court in Accra seeking the official winding up of Euroget De-Invest S.A. for insolvency and persistent failure to satisfy a nine-year-old judgment debt.
The move comes as a result of failure to pay a judgment debt now standing at approximately $3,864,004.19.
Per court documents, out of the over $8,170,821.36 judgment debt, Euroget paid only $304,169.62 leaving the outstanding $3,864,004.19
The petition invokes Sections 81, 83, and 84 of the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act, 2020 (Act 1015), as amended by Act 1031.
When granted, the judgement creditor, Top International Engineering, will be able to sell the assets of Euroget De-Invest S.A. to settle the debt.
The petitioner is praying for three specific orders.
They are an order for the official winding up of Euroget De-Invest S.A. for insolvency and non-payment of the judgment debt; an order for the appointment of an official liquidator or insolvency practitioner; and costs of the petition.
Background
Top International Engineering Ghana Limited won the $8 million judgment debt after an arbitration between it and Euroget at the International Court of Arbitration in London of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The arbitration award was adopted by the High Court as its final judgment after the two sides agreed that that should be the means to settle a legal dispute which started at the High Court in 2017.
About $5.4 million of the amount represents the outstanding balance that Euroget has to pay Top Engineering, while $1.06 million relates to interest on the outstanding balance from September 29, 2017, when the dispute between the two companies began, to June 29, 2021, the date of the arbitration award.
The rest of the arbitration award is in relation to the legal fees and other costs expended by Top Engineering during the arbitration.
The dispute between the two firms is connected to two hospitals being constructed by Euroget — the 500-bed military hospital at Afari, Kumasi, and the 60-bed hospital in Konongo, both in the Ashanti Region.
Top Engineering had argued that it provided some engineering services at the military hospital at a contract sum of more than $12 million, but Euroget paid it $7.5 million.
With regard to the hospital in Konongo, Top Engineering said the contract sum was more than $7.5 million, but Euroget paid $4.8 million.
Euroget also made a counter-claim against Top Engineering and argued that the engineering firm delayed in completing its services as agreed between the two parties.
The arbitration tribunal upheld the counter-claim and ordered Top Engineering to pay Euroget $710,000 in relation to the military hospital contract and $1,117,746.37 in relation to the Konongo project.
