12 Dec 2003

 

Western Wireless International and the Modern Africa Growth & Investment Company (MAGIC), who together are the U.S.-based majority owners of Cora de Comstar, a private wireless telecommunications company headquartered in the Cote d'Ivoire, have filed a US$54 million expropriation claim against the Cote d'Ivoire government in an effort to reclaim assets seized by the government on October 9, 2003 during an assault and occupation of the company.

The government-backed assaults on Cora and its employees date back to May 2001, when a group of Ivorian government militia and police, accompanied by Alexander Galley, an Ivorian with ties to former Liberian president Charles Taylor, led an attack on the company's headquarters. Galley appears on the United Nations list of "Persons Subject to Travel Restrictions Pursuant to Resolution 1343 (2001) on Liberia" for alleged involvement in illegal arms trading with rebel groups in West Africa. Galley has also been convicted of counterfeiting in a criminal action filed in France.

Between May 2001 and October 2003, Galley manipulated the court system and mobilized the Ivorian security forces to terrorize Cora de Comstar and ultimately seize and destroy its assets. As the company's claim demonstrates, Galley would have been powerless without the backing of the Cote d'Ivoire government.

These actions of terror culminated on October 9, 2003, when Cora's headquarters was seized and occupied for seven days by approximately 25 uniformed and armed Ivorian policemen led by a commandant and accompanied by Galley. During the takeover, Cora's employees were physically and verbally assaulted by the police; the company's safes, including their contents, company documents and other assets were stolen; and the headquarters nearly destroyed. Repeated requests to the Ivorian government by Cora personnel and the U.S. shareholders to terminate the takeover were ignored.

During this occupation, the state-controlled television station broadcast pictures of Galley in control of Cora with the armed support of uniformed Ivorian police. On October 12, as a result of these unlawful actions by the Ivorian government, Cora was forced to shut off its wireless service to more than 40,000 subscribers. The perpetrators have not been arrested or charged for these actions.

"To say that we are frustrated is a gross understatement," said Stephen Cashin, Managing Director of MAGIC. "We have spent years working with the Ivorian Government trying to address these unlawful actions against Cora. We tried working through the courts, but we were persistently denied due process. We met with every Ivorian official with any degree of responsibility over the situation. We negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of the President. But all of these actions proved to be meaningless. This claim is the only recourse we have left."

"At the end of the day, the government effectively chose to support an international criminal over the right to due process for U.S. investors. In doing so, it has seized a valuable U.S. asset, fundamentally undermined the international investment climate and breached its bilateral and multilateral treaty obligations," he added.

The shareholders of Cora de Comstar expect that Government of Cote d'Ivoire will provide prompt, adequate and effective compensation.

Prior to its seizure, Cora de Comstar had operated a GSM-900 wireless telecommunications network since 1996, and had over 40,000 subscribers. The Cora network covered the key population and commercial centers of Cote d'Ivoire, including greater Abidjan, Grand Bassam, San Pedro, Yamoussoukro, Bouake, and Assinie with both prepaid and postpaid services.