Property tycoon Glenn Maud faced a renewed push from creditors today when lawyers representing the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) asked the Court of Appeal in London to overturn a ruling that said the LIA couldn’t be paid.Barrister Jonathan Swift QC said today that Mrs Justice Rose erred when she ruled in June last year that it would be illegal for Maud to pay the LIA because to do so would be a breach of the sanctions regime imposed on Libya by the United Nations.
Swift said that there is a dispute as to whether his ultimate client has the full authority to speak for the LIA. He said today’s appeal should go ahead in any event as the matter was important to the LIA, regardless of his client’s status.
The LIA is demanding around £17.5m from Maud, Swift said. This is based on a guarantee that Maud gave in 2008, and a statutory demand served in February last year.
The fact that Maud has already had a bankruptcy petition issued against him “does not render theses proceedings academic”, Swift said. A ruling in the LIA’s favour would help them “stake their claim”, he said.
Separately, Maud is involved in a legal tussle with creditors Robert Tchenguiz’s Edgeworth Capital and Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar. Last month a bankruptcy registrar at the High Court in London gave Maud a stay of execution on a bankruptcy order to allow him the chance to appeal.
Maud v Libyan Investment Authority. Appeal of the respondent. Court of Appeal (Moore-Bick LJ, Longmore LJ, Macur LJ) 6 July 2016