A member of the Qatari ruling family cannot blame the pandemic for delays in bringing legal action against a Swiss company over the $3m he paid for a ‘fake’ ancient marble bust of Alexander the Great, a London court has ruled.
Court of Appeal judges rejected claims by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, a cousin of the emir, and his company that the late filing of a claim against Geneva-based Phoenix Ancient Art was due to chaos caused by Covid-19.
Qatar Investment and Project Development Holding Company, headed by the well-known international collector, bought "the Head of Alexander the Great as Herakles" from the dealer in January 2014.
The 30cm-high artwork was described as more than 2,000 years old. But four years after buying the statue, the Qataris concluded that it was modern and “more or less worthless”, a previous hearing had heard.
The company in Doha said another reputedly 1,600-year-old piece bought a year earlier from the same sellers for $2.2m, a statuette of the Greek goddess of victory Nike, was also a modern remake worth a fraction of the price paid.
Phoenix maintained the works were genuine but agreed to exchange the two pieces for six other items amounting to a similar value. But the deal was never concluded after five of the replacements that were to be shipped from the US were held there by customs officers because of a breach of export rules.
The failure of the swap led to further talks which ended with the Qataris launching legal action in London’s High Court.
A judge had ruled last year that they had run out time in bringing the case. The Qataris appealed and said the judge had failed to take into account problems caused by the pandemic.
But three Appeal Court judges on Wednesday ruled that problems caused by Covid-19 came after “delays … for which there was no good excuse” and dismissed the appeal.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
On racial profiling at airports
Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
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