EMEA News
Defence Filed in $118 Million Lawsuit Against GP Global's Prerit Goel
A defence has been filed in a UK lawsuit seeking to enforce a $119 million UAE judgement against former GP Global managing director Prerit Goel.
In October 2023 a UAE court awarded lender BNP Paribas an AED 436.2 million ($118.8 million) judgement against Goel in relation to the collapse of commodity trading firm GP Global.
GP Global went into restructuring in July 2020 following financial difficulties, and subsequently announced it had uncovered fraud by some of its employees in the UAE. The firm had been a significant presence in global bunker markets, as well as in other commodity markets.
In December 2024 BNP Paribas's legal representatives filed a suit seeking to enforce the UAE judgement in the UK.
A defence has now been filed in the UK case, a representative of Goel told Ship & Bunker.
The defence argues that the UAE claim had not been served correctly to Goel, as it had initially been served to an address no longer in use and subsequently via a newspaper in the UAE, when he was not resident there.
The defence also says the case in the UAE is still subject to an appeal.
"The UAE Judgment is not final, since there is a pending appeal against it and the Federal Supreme Court of the UAE has granted a stay of execution of the UAE Judgment pending the determination of the appeal," Goel's representatives said in the defence.
"The Court should not in any event enforce the UAE Judgment until the resolution of the appeal."
The case continues.
