Telekom Malaysia to seek international arbitration

Telekom Malaysia, the subsidiary shareholders in Ghana Tele-communications Company Limited, has hinted that there should be no amicable settlement between its negotiators and the Ghanaian government by 18 December 2002, it could exercise its legal rights by referring the dispute to International arbitration.

Reacting to a publication in an Accra daily, headlined "Malaysians Demand $200m for 30 per cent GT Share they bought" it denied that it had offered $200m for its shares.

It said TM had also not filed any arbitration proceedings against the Ghana government in London. Telekom said its interest in GT was held through wholly-owned subsidiary TM International Sdn Bhd, which in turn owns 85.5 per cent of G-Com Ltd.

In a statement posted on the Internet, the Company said Telekom's effective interesting GT was 25.5 per cent and cost of investment made in 1997 was $38m (RM 144.4m).

On 13 May 2002, the Ghana government had indicted to Telekom of its agreement in principle to acquire G-Com's 30 per cent stake in GT subject to valuation. To-date, no agreements have been reached between the parties on the terms and conditions of the proposed sale by Telekom.

On 3 June 2002, the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of GT passed a resolution to reconstitute the Board of GT from four nominees of G-Com and three nominees from the Ghana government to three to G-Com and six to the Ghana government.

This resolution was passed despite the objection from G-Com whose consent is required under the Company Regulations of GT. G-Com then filed an application in the High Court of Ghana on 13 June 2002 to seek a declaration that the EGM was null and void.

On 11 July 2002, the Ghana government unilaterally terminated the contract of employment of the managing director and appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to oversee and manage the day to day affairs of GT. This effectively renders Telekom's loss of management control of GT.

On 31 July 2002, the High Court of Ghana dismissed G-Com's application for a declaration to nullify the EGM and on 25 September G-Com filed an appeal against the decision.

Telecom said that in protecting its legal rights, it has issued a Notification Claim to the Ghana government on 18 September in accordance with Article 7 of the Bilateral International Treaty entered into between the Malaysian government and the Ghana government on 11 November 1996.

The notice provides for a period three months from the date of notification for both parties to reach an amicable settlement. Upon the expiry of the above period, Telekom may pursue the dispute by referring the same to international arbitration if the dispute remains unresolved.

In the notice, Telekom formally notified Ghana of the treatment of G-Com's 30 per cent shareholding in GT and failure to pay about US$58m (RM220.4m) deposit (being the deposit of US$50m and interest) pursuant to heads of Agreement dated August 10, 2002.

Telekom said it would announced further development on the matter at the appropriate time.