US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT3750

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003750 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2013 
TAGS: KUNC, PREL, KU 
SUBJECT: GOK SUPPORTS CONTESTED UNCC CLAIM 
 
Classified By: CDA Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.5 (d) 
 
1. (U) This is an action request.  Please see para 5. 
 
2. (C) MFA IO Division Acting Director Ambassador Aqeel 
Behbehani contacted PolChief on August 16 to express the 
GOK's official support for a United Nations Compensation 
Commission (UNCC) claim by prominent Kuwaiti businessman 
Jawad Bu Khamseen.  The claim, the total value of which is 
at least USD 140 million, was considered by the "Dl" Panel 
of UNCC Commissioners and decided against in March 2003. 
The ruling is disputed by Bu Khamseen, who claims the 
Commissioners denied his request for an oral hearing. 
 
3. (C) In 1982, Bu Khamseen took out a loan from a 
consortium of domestic and foreign banks for USD 140 
million.  When the Kuwaiti economy (and the value of Bu 
Khamseen's property collateral) began to suffer as a result 
of both the Iran-Iraq War and the Al-Manakh stock exchange 
crisis of the same year, Bu Khamseen found himself unable 
to make payment on the loan.  To the rescue came the GOK 
and domestic banks, which developed a plan to bail out all 
Kuwaitis in Mr. Bu Khamseen's predicament.  The agreement 
finalizing the buy-out of Mr. Bu Khamseen's loan was to 
have been signed on August 6, 1990, in Bahrain.  When it 
was not, as a result of the August 2 invasion of Kuwait, 
and the Kuwaiti banks which had agreed in principle to the 
deal failed to honor it, Mr. Bu Khamseen sought 
compensation via the UNCC. 
 
4. (C) Mr. Bu Khamseen's son, Anwar, had previously 
approached Poloff to request official USG assistance in 
obtaining a second review of this claim.  At that time, he 
also raised concerns that the three-judge panel that 
reviewed the case had not/not acted with impartiality based 
on phone calls he had received from a non-participant who 
showed unwarranted familiarity with the content of closed 
meetings. 
 
5. (C) Action Request: Please advise how post should 
respond to the MFA. 
URBANCIC