Mauritius drags India to international court over Andhra SEZ case

HYDERABAD: The Mauritius government has dragged India to the International Court of Justice for arbitration in the InduTech Zone Investments case.

InduTech Zone IT SEZ had failed to take off after CBI chargesheeted Andhra opposition leader Jagan Mohan Reddy in a scam involving the land earmarked for the purpose.

Indu Shyam Prasad Reddy, who was contracted to develop the SEZ, had mortgaged the land to raise loans and laundered part of it. Reddy, along with others, was booked in the same case.

As the SEZ case got embroiled in legal tangle, Carissa Investments LLC of Mauritius, which holds 49% stake in InduTech Zone, through FDI, approached the Mauritius government, which took up the case for arbitration. The Mauritius government took up the case under a bilateral treaty for protection of investments.

A top official of Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) told TOI, “A legal notice has been served by the Mauritius government in the name of PM Narendra Modi, stating that Carissa LLC has been cheated. The claimant, Carissa LLC, said the claim would be over $50 million and sought arbitration. In the notice, the Mauritius government has quoted United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Commercial Arbitration.”

Besides the PM, the notice also mentions names of finance minister, law minister, commerce minister and urban affairs minister as respondents.

Though not as respondent, the notice mentions the chargesheet against Jagan.

“The Mauritius government said it is a breach of bilateral investment treaty that promised protection of investments. With the CBI and ED cases pending, the project failed to take off and resulted in loss of investments for Carissa. International Court of Justice sent a notice to India seeking appointment of an arbitrator. The Centre has called for an inter-ministerial group meeting for appointing an arbitrator,” said the TSIIC official.