Argentina files court motion over detained navy vessel in Ghana

An Argentine navy vessel was last week detained in Ghana following a court order sought by NML Capital Ltd, an affiliate of investment firm Elliott Management, after the Latin American nation failed to pay its 2002 debt.

Argentina had earlier accused the Ghana court of violating rules of diplomatic immunity.

The vessel, Libertad, was in Ghana to offer some navy training. The 103-meter-long sailing ship left Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires on June 2 and was carrying a reported total crew of 220, including 69 members of the Argentine Navy and 110 students.

Citing an Argentine weekly news outlet, Perfil, Forbes reported that the Argentine state last Friday October 5, 2012 filed a motion before the Supreme Court of Ghana in order to annul the injunction won by NML.

The court has scheduled a hearing on the matter Tuesday October 9, 2012 before the commercial division of the high court where the first legal proceeding had started, according to NML lawyer Ace Ankomah, Forbes reported.

The NML was awarded $1.6 billion from Argentina by a US judge in a lawsuit after it opted not to accept two separate restructuring offers in 2005 and 2010 on the $100 billion debt that Argentina defaulted on a decade ago.

Ghana’s courts will now have to decide whether previous rulings in the US and the UK are sufficient to move ahead with NML’s case against Argentina, reports Forbes.

By Ekow Quandzie