London Court orders £880,000 payment to Djibouti businessman

London, April 6, GNA - The High Court in London has ruled that Abdourahman Boreh, whose $100 million assets were frozen worldwide after an unsafe conviction on a terrorism charge in Djibouti, should be jointly paid £880,000 by the government of Djibouti and its legal representative, UK solicitor firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.

The ruling was made by Mr Justice Flaux on Tuesday following his freezing order on Mr Boreh's assets in 2013 after the government of Djibouti made an application in the UK courts based on the unsafe conviction.

Last month, Mr Justice Flaux criticised the Djiboutian government and Mr Peter Gray of Gibson Dunn for misleading the court in the first place.

It is expected that the figure of £880,000 in favour of Mr. Boreh could rise after a ruling by a costs judge.

At the same hearing, Mark Simpson, the lawyer representing Mr. Gray, told the court that he was seeking permission to appeal against Mr Justice Flaux's ruling last month that said that Mr. Gray knowingly misled the court, which then led to the freezing of Mr. Boreh's assets.

This new development means that other lawyers on the Djiboutian government's side could have been equally privy to the strategy to mislead the court, but that it was only Mr Gray who was left to carry the can.

Gibson Dunn has suspended Mr Gray.
The firm said in court, through its lawyer, that it 'accepts the court's findings are very serious and it has already apologised and nothing that has been said today should be taken to contradict that'.

GNA