Ethiopian court cancels deal

An Ethiopian court has cancelled a share deal between a chopstick manufacturer and a Manx company.

The Federal High Court in Addis Ababa cancelled the swapping agreement between Michael Kassa, a shareholder in Land and Sea Development Ethiopia, and Isle of Man based Land and Sea Development.

The court said the 2008 deal was tantamount to international business trafficking after Mr Kassa was denied shares in the Manx firm.

The Ethiopian company was set up to manufacture and export chopsticks to China, but the court heard its factory never started operation.

Mr Kassa told the court LSDL was not registered in Ethiopia, and so couldn’t engage in business activities in the country, the share transfer wasn’t approved by the National Bank of Ethiopia and no taxes were paid over the transaction.

Michael also claimed that what LSDL did was equivalent to money laundering, as the foreign exchange the government should have gained in the process of the transaction was not obtainable.

After the ruling, Mr Kassa said he was happy justice had been done after 13 months of legal wrangling.