A Ghanaian court has authorized today to remove Argentina’s Libertad navy training frigate, impounded over a lawsuit filed by a US based vulture fund, from Tema’s commercial port to another local pier in order to liberate space that’s crucial for the in and out of cargo liners.
As the ship has been stranded since October 2, on request of New York based vulture fund NML Capital who claims , Argentina’s legal representatives indicated that the moving the ship must be dangerous as almost her entire crew has left and returned to Argentina only leaving an emergency crew of 45 men.
But Ghana’s Judge Adjei Frimpong, who authorized the move, said to be “more than satisfy” with his decision, and remarked that “the ship is not in danger.”
Likewise, Frimpong explained that “the port has become a chaotic scenario since the arrival of the ship whose presence has virtually blocked all possible commercial activities.”
NML Capital is suing Argentina on the basis of debts arising from the country’s defaulted bond swaps in 2005 and 2010. The investment fund bought bonds from the heavily indebted Argentine government in 2000, a year before the country’s US$100 billion sovereign default saw most of its debt restructured.
The Libertad was detained after the fund – which has obtained judgments in New York and London awarding it more than US$1.6 billion from Argentina – applied to the Ghanaian courts. Previous attempts to seize sovereign assets, including the Argentine presidential jet, have so far been successfully avoided.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald