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Iraq’s justice ministry said on Sunday that it has won an international arbitration case brought by French telecom company Orange, avoiding nearly $800 million in compensation claims.

In a statement, the ministry said it had won the arbitration case filed by Orange, a France-based multinational telecommunication firm, against Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC), resulting in the dismissal of all claims brought forth by the company, News.Az reports, citing The New Region.

The legal victory spared Baghdad from “paying approximately $800 million in compensation,” the ministry said.

The statement added that the arbitration panel ordered the French telecom company to pay $10 million to Iraq in legal fees and expenses.

Orange, which is partly owned by the French government, had been in a long-running ownership dispute with Baghdad over its investment in Korek Telecom, Iraq’s third-largest mobile network operator.

The company accused Iraq’s communications regulator of effectively expropriating more than $400 million of its investment.

The French telecom giant initiated arbitration proceedings through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), part of the World Bank.

The ownership dispute dates back more than a decade, when Orange and Kuwaiti logistics company Agility bought a 44 percent stake in Korek for a combined $810 million in 2011.

Iraq’s communications regulator in 2013 said that the deal involving the French and Kuwaiti companies violated licensing conditions and ordered that the ownership of the Kurdish telecommunication company be reverted to the original pre-2011 shareholders.

In 2019, local investors took full control of Korek with no compensation given to the companies, prompting the two companies to launch legal action and challenge the decision.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli