Quantum Global and its founder have notified the Government of Mauritius of their intention to resort to international arbitration if the dispute over its business affairs in Mauritius is not settled within six months.
Quantum Global and its founder, Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, have seen their bank accounts frozen and business licenses suspended by the Mauritius courts on the basis of allegations that have yet to be made public. These measures are causing significant financial damage to Quantum Global and the private equity funds that the company manages on behalf of the Angolan sovereign wealth fund (FSDEA).
“We have notified the Government of Mauritius of our intention to resort to international arbitration if this matter is not settled within six months,” Mr Bastos said. Mauritius and Switzerland have a Bilateral Investment Treaty that protects the rights of investors in the case of disputes.
“As a result of the absence of due process and the rush to sanction Quantum Global, the company has seen its business seriously damaged. This has a real impact on our employees, our clients, our partners and the important investment projects we are managing across Angola and Africa. We urgently need to have a fair hearing,” Mr Bastos added.
Quantum Global had applied to the Mauritius courts to release some money from its frozen bank accounts to pay salaries and legal fees. The hearing took place on Wednesday and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Mauritius objected to the application, so the court set a further hearing date for May 11.
“The delay in releasing funds to pay salaries and legal costs causes further financial damage to Quantum Global and in particular, causes further hardship for our employees, and indirectly the thousands of hard working families who work for our portfolio companies in Angola and Africa,” Mr Bastos said.
While the reasons for the initial court actions against Quantum Global have yet to be officially disclosed, there has been a barrage of unfounded allegations against Quantum Global in the Mauritius press.
Mr Bastos said: “We believe that the underlying accusations against us will not stand up to scrutiny, which explains why they are not being made public.”
“The truth is that all the money of the Angolan government is accounted for in publicly disclosed accounts that have been independently audited for a number of years. The overall FSDEA portfolio has grown in value under Quantum Global’s management.”
“We fear that these actions against Quantum are a pretext for breaking our contractual agreement with the Angolan wealth fund.”
Quantum Global has maintained that, from a legal standpoint, the commercial rationale of the General Partner of the seven Limited Partnerships registered in Mauritius remains, along with their contractual legitimacy.
“We look forward to resolving this situation with the FSDEA in an amicable manner,” Mr Bastos said.
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