A petroleum storage facility in Karuruma, Kigali. Petroleum dealer
Valens Kajeguhawa and Engen-Rwanda are in court over a lease agreement
for the facility. PHOTO: Cyril NDEGEYA
A Rwandan petroleum dealer, Valens Kajeguhawa, has asked the
Supreme Court to impose a fine and punitive damages to transnational oil
firm Engen-Rwanda, for “delaying” a multibillion court case that is
pending before the Supreme Court.
The two parties were
recently in court over the lease agreement of petroleum storing
facilities in Karuruma, in Kigali. However, Engen-Rwanda requested the
court to adjourn the case for three months, citing concerns over legal
representation.
“I got a letter from our lawyer Jean
Claude Kabera telling us that he was withdrawing from the case, citing
personal reasons,” said Sarah Doukoure, the managing director for
Engen-Rwanda, adding, “He is the lawyer who has handled this case for
the past five years, and finding a replacement would require at least
than three months,” she added.
Mr Kajeguhawa’s lawyers
termed the request to adjourn the case a “delaying tactic, which should
not go unpunished by the Supreme Court.”
According to the lawyers, Mr Kajeguhawa and his companies are incurring losses linked to the delay in concluding the case.
“Many
banks have stopped working with Mr Kajeguhawa and his companies and
withheld a number of credit lines that were already available because of
this pending case,” Fidel Gashagaza, Mr Kajeguhawa’s lawyer told the
court.
Multinational firms
This
case is a continuation of a 27-year old legal tussle between Mr
Kajeguhawa and petroleum multinational firms in the country.
In
1987, Mr Kajeguhawa, through his company Entreprise Rwandaise des
Pétroles, entered into a ground lease agreement with Caltex Oil
Corporation providing that Caltex would build petrol storage facilities
on a plot owned by Mr Kajeguhawa, and in turn use the facilities for 10
years.
Caltex alleged breach of contract and took Mr
Kajeguhawa to court in 1991 seeking a court order to declare that the
storage facilities belonged to Caltex and a Kigali court ruled in the
company’s favour.
The decision was however overturned
by a Kigali court of appeal in 1994, which ordered that the facilities
belonged to Mr Kajeguhawa and his companies.
In 2008,
just after commercial courts were created in the country, Caltex filed a
new case with the Commercial High Court, seeking a court order to
compel Mr Kajeguhawa and his companies to respect the 1987 ground lease
agreement, and nullify a similar deal between Mr Kajeguhawa and the
French oil firm Total.
The court ruled in Caltex’s
favour but Mr Kajeguhawa opposed the decision in the same court on
ground that it ruled on a matter that had already been determined by the
Kigali Court of Appeal in 1994.
The case was brought
back to court by Engen in 2012 after the firm took over Total’s
operations in 2008, claiming breach of a lease agreement between Mr
Kajeguhawa and Total.
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