The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

YEARS of an ongoing spat between two millionaire brothers could soon come to an end after lawyers representing Rami Weisfisch and Amir Weissfisch said several issues in a settlement have been resolved.

During a hearing before Justices Christopher Blackman, Stanley John and Abdulai Conteh in the Court of Appeal yesterday the brothers’ lawyers said one final meeting is scheduled to work out the remaining grievances.

Initially, Justice Blackman scheduled the matter to be adjourned to September when the final settlement would be reviewed, however Amir’s counsel raised concern that the length of time could harm the progress already made.

It was finally agreed that if the final settlement was reached by July 19 and there was an appellate panel available a final ruling would be made. If not, Justice Blackman said a date in September would remain.

The Israeli brothers have for six years been engaged in a legal battle over $100 million.

They were joint owners of one of the most prominent metal trading firms in London – Metals Resources Group (MRG).

Mr Rami Weisfisch (the brothers spell their surname differently) ran MRG, which became a dominant force in the global cobalt market in 1999 and closed in 2002.

His brother Amir was his partner. Amir took legal action in England in 2006, claiming that Rami refused to account to him for their partnership profits over an eight-year period.

Since that time, claims and counter-claims were exchanged between the parties.

A 2006 report in The Observer in London said that the details of the depth of the dispute where “Amir claims that at the time of the alleged agreement his elder brother was about to have life-threatening heart surgery and wanted to make sure that his family would be provided for if he died. He claims that he transferred the $88 million to Rami and his daughter.”

“But Rami,” continued the Observer’s report, “survived his heart bypass operation, which led eventually to the current dispute.”

According to Amir’s claim, filed at the High Court in London, it had been proposed as part of the agreement in November 2001 that if Rami lived “the sum of $37.5 million would be repaid to (Amir) within three months along with further sums to be identified.”

“But Amir’s statement of claim adds that Rami failed to do this and ‘wrongfully and in breach of the oral agreement, (Rami) continued to assert rights over and in MRG Group (and) to direct the business of MRG Group’.”