Frazer Solar GmbH v. Government of Lesotho

Central Information Resource

Latest News:

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12 January 2024:  The South African High Court has dealt a major blow to the Government of Lesotho (GOL) by throwing out its case to overturn Frazer Solar's arbitration award.  GOL lost to Frazer Solar and the South African Ministry of Justice.  GOL has failed on every argument raised.  The Judge has dismissed the case and ordered GOL to pay costs to Frazer Solar and the South African Ministry of Justice.  The value of Frazer Solar's claim including interest and costs is estimated to be €58 million (US $64 million, M1.2 billion).  A media statement can be accessed here and a copy of the ruling can be accessed here.

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27-28 March 2024:  The Judge reserved his decision on GOL's request for leave to appeal its loss in the SA High Court at a hearing on 27 March 2024. Neither Frazer Solar nor the SA Ministry of Justice opposed GOL's request so did not appear.  On 28 March 2024 the Judge allowed the appeal. An appeal date will be set in due course.

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Introduction:

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This site is an information repository for anyone interested in the Frazer Solar vs Government of Lesotho (FSGvGOL) arbitration case. For transparency, this website has been set-up by and is administered by Frazer Solar, a participant in the case, but care has been taken to endeavour to provide accurate and complete information regarding the case in an impartial and balanced manner.

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The Dispute:

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In September 2018, Frazer Solar GmbH (FSG) of Germany signed an agreement with the Government of Lesotho (GOL) to develop a major solar and energy efficiency project with financing from the German government via development bank KFW.

Despite the project being approved by the Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, the Finance Minister – Dr Moeketsi Majoro – refused to co-operate and participate in the project.

This led to a legal dispute between Frazer Solar and the Government of Lesotho which eventually went to arbitration in December 2019. FSG prevailed in the arbitration and was awarded €50 million plus costs and interest in January 2020.  GOL neither participated in the legal process nor did they honour the award.  In May 2021 FSG began seizing GOL’s assets.

 

Frazer Solar's Position:

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FSG claims the agreement was breached by Dr Moeketsi Majoro who preferred to pursue a Chinese solar project over FSG's German solar project.  Political factionalism also played a part with Majoro leading a rival faction to Thabane.

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Government of Lesotho's Position:

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Dr Majoro, Finance Minister then Prime Minister from May 2020 to October 2022, claims GOL was completely unaware of the agreement and the legal proceedings.  GOL claims that the agreement was either signed by an unauthorised person or the signature was forged, and information regarding the legal process was intentionally intercepted and concealed from GOL officials by corrupt individuals.

 

Current Status:

Legal action to enforce the award is underway in multiple jurisdictions including but not exclusively limited to South Africa, Lesotho, UK, USA, Belgium and Mauritius.

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Lesotho's Criminal Allegations Against FSG:

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The Government of Lesotho is pursuing a 'corruption and fraud by a corrupt cabal' narrative through their court system including threatening to arrest Frazer Solar personnel.  FSG states that these allegations are completely false, without substance and are purely being pursued to help GOL in its civil proceedings.  GOL's main difficulty is that it did not file its appeal to set aside the arbitration ruling within the three month deadline required under article 34 of the South African Arbitration Act. Therefore, it cannot and the arbitration ruling is final.  The only way for it to set aside the three month time-bar and file a belated appeal is by arguing corruption or fraud prevented them from knowing about the making of the arbitration award.  For this reason, FSG contends GOL has concocted this false narrative.

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