Interlegal lawyers won GAFTA arbitration case in the amount of 200,000 USD

Interlegal succeeded in GAFTA arbitration settlement of the dispute, due to the Buyer’s failure to pay for wheat flour supplied on CFR terms, Toamasina sea port, Madagascar.

A Client applied to Interlegal, as the Seller under trade contract with the large Indian company. The Seller supplied in several batches the goods in containers. Payment should have been made in two installments: 10% as prepayment upon each batch, 90% as direct debit, i.e. against the documents, by bank transfer.

Payment delay occurred at the stage of the contract performance. Two shipped batches remained unpaid against the documents. However the Seller obtained information that the Beneficiary’s bank has issued cargo documents to the latter without payment.

The Buyer explained that payment delay was caused by problems concerning the cargo ultimate beneficiaries in Madagascar. At the stage of claims handling, Interlegal lawyers managed to recover payment from the Buyer partially. To recover the second installment, the Client had to apply to GAFTA arbitration, since the Buyer just made promises and tried to avoid responsibility for payment, mainly due to the Seller’s alleged violations.

In the framework of GAFTA arbitration, the Buyer filed multiple letters of protests, referring, in particular, to alleged problems upon cargo quality and violations of delivery period.

Interlegal lawyers have duly supported the Seller’s positions and proved that the Client fulfilled all its obligations without any violations. Arbitrators supported in full the Seller’s payment claims.

Interlegal lawyer Valeria Ivanova represented the Client’s interests at GAFTA arbitration.