CR-2023-007112 - [2024] EWHC 1070 (Ch)

Judgment in the sum of USD $776,907.51 was obtained by the Respondent in Lebanon on 13.7.2010. The judgment was upheld by the appellate courts in Lebanon on 20.5.2014 and 23.3.2017 following appeals by the Applicant. There is evidence in the bundle that some enforcement was attempted in Lebanon by the Respondent without success in around 2015.

On 13.7.2022 the Respondent wrote to the Applicant through its London solicitors with a draft statutory demand, stating that it reserved the right to serve a formal demand. The demand was for the judgment sum plus 9% interest from 20.5.2014 to date of payment and for costs.

On 6.9.2022, the Applicant caused an unnamed third party that is affiliated to the Applicant and its current agent to make a payment into court in Lebanon by the way of a banker’s cheque in the principal sum of USD $776,907.51. It does not cover any claimed interest or costs. The payment was made as the result of a confidential agreement between the agent, the third party and the Applicant to which the Respondent is not a party.

On 21.2.2023 the Respondent filed an objection to the payment with the Enforcement Bureau, seeking rejection of the bank cheque. On 16.10.2023 the Enforcement Bureau adjudged that the payment was invalid as a matter of Lebanese law. The cheque has been deposited in an interest-bearing account at Byblos Bank SAL in Lebanon which I am told is standard procedure. It is my view that I cannot go behind the determination of the Lebanese court as to the validity of the payment in Lebanon.

On 20.11.2023 the Respondent again demanded payment and the Applicant provided a full response on 6.12.2023. I am told by the Applicant that it appealed the 16.10.2023 judgment on 22.12.2023 and has applied for a stay of enforcement proceedings as part of the appeal. There is some dispute as to the status of the enforcement processes. I have no first-hand evidence by an expert in Lebanese law to support this assertion.