28 June - 4 July 2001

Corinthia to ask US State Department to revoke ban

by Ivan Brincat

The Corinthia Group will be lodging a full application with the State Department to have its position reconsidered with regards to the US-imposed ban on Americans visiting the hotels having Libyan interests. The Group hopes the ban will be revoked by the end of the year.
Group chairman Alfred Pisani announced this yesterday during the annual general meeting of IHI plc and the company’s solicitors in the United States will be making a full application to have the ban revoked.
Washington had imposed a ban on Americans doing business with Libyan enterprises in 1986 as punishment for Libya’s alleged sponsorship of international terrorism.
Corinthia Group had been on that list since 1986 and it still remains there even though the company has made various presentations to the State Department giving the reasons why the company should not be on the list.
“We find no arguments as to why we should be on that list,” Mr Pisani said yesterday.

The US Treasury Department has kept its boycott on Maltese companies because it contests the view taken by Maltese companies such as the Corinthia Group who have always insisted that their majority shareholding base is Maltese.
In all, there are 21 Maltese companies with a Libyan connection on the US Treasury list.
However, the locally listed company IHI plc is not affected by the sanctions and is not on the list.
The company chairman said that with or without the boycott, the reality was that Corinthia has continued to expand. “Although we would want Americans to visit our hotels, we have done well even without them,” he said.
The estimated value of the Corinthia Group is estimated to have reached over US$500m from a valuation of US$3m 27 years ago in 1974.
The issue was raised by a shareholder yesterday during the first annual general meeting of International Hotels Investments plc which was floated on the Malta Stock Exchange in May 2000.
In 1998, the Corinthia Group had been in the limelight following its purchase of two hotels in Prague.
Organisers of the Czech city’s spring classical music festival had to scramble to find other rooms for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
A few days earlier, the US embassy in Prague had warned Americans they would be breaking US law if they lodged at the hotel.