Sudan's SC issues warrant against China-owned joint venture company
Dec 15, 2021
Khartoum [Sudan], December 15 : Sudan's Supreme Court has issued a warrant against a joint venture company (PDOC) that is owned by two companies including China-based CNPC due to their failure to settle the labour issues of PetroDar Operating Company, said a report.
PDOC is a joint venture company in Sudan in which Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas company and CNPC, a major national oil and gas corporation of China have ownership, reported Financial Post.
The arrest warrant was issued on October 11 2021, against the country managers of Petronas, and CNPC.
According to Financial Post, the Sudanese government is also planning to confiscate assets acquired by these companies through illegal means during the previous regimes.
A PDOC unit with around 600 workers was closed in the year 2018 without settling the workers' dues who subsequently approached the court. The company was accused of violating the country's Labor Act regulation while denying its employees' overtime compensation, amounting to approximately 5.5 million dollars during the previous administration.
Following the warrant issued, the country managers of CNPC and Petronas left the country hurriedly.
A statement cited by Financial Post said: "PetroDar Operating Company (PDOC), a joint venture company in Sudan in which Petronas has an interest, is pursuing legal recourse to cancel a wrongful warrant of arrest issued against its former officers relating to trade union claims made against PDOC. PDOC's external counsel is in the process of cancelling the warrant of arrest."
In another case, Sudan transitional government is seeking to confiscate assets belonging to Petronas, stating that they were acquired through illegal means during the rule of ousted leader Omar al-Bashir.
The government even passed an act and formed the Empowerment Removal, Anti-corruption and Money Retrieving Committee to do the same.
Financial Post reported that the two cases at hand, show that many foreign countries and investors are interested only in the exploration of oil while ignoring the needs of the Sudanese people and compliance with the laws of the land.
They try to defend themselves and try to globalize the issue as well but remain complacent to the desires of the locals and even go to the extent of Human Rights Violations.
The major stakeholder in PDOC is the CNPC with 41 per cent shareholding and the close second is Petronas with 40 per cent shareholding. Other shareholders include Sudapet (Sudan), SINOPEC (China), and Tri-Ocean Energy (Kuwait).
