A Saudi prince has successfully evaded a bankruptcy petition over a $1.2 billion arbitration debt linked to a Kuwaiti telecommunications company, as a London court ruled on Thursday that he cannot be served in the U.K.
High Court Judge Nicholas Briggs determined that Mobile Telecommunications Co. KSCP, operating as Zain Group, lacked sufficient evidence to prove that Prince Hussam bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had a U.K. residence between 2000 and 2019. This decision marks the latest chapter in a contentious battle over the prince’s alleged debt.
Residency at the Heart of the Case
The court concluded that Prince Hussam’s ties to the U.K. were too tenuous to establish residency, a key requirement for serving a bankruptcy petition in Britain. Judge Briggs noted that the prince’s use of a London property owned by his mother during his studies in the 1990s did not constitute residency.
“There is insufficient evidence to find that occupation by Hussam of any property, during his temporary visits to the jurisdiction, is to be characterized as occupation in a dwelling house,” the judge stated.
