TAGI to file lawsuit against government
25 Jul 2007By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN — The Talal Abu Ghazaleh International Group (TAGI) on Tuesday said it will file a lawsuit in the Higher Court of Justice against a government decision expropriating land in parcel No.14 in the Abdali area.
“We have to file the case before the beginning of next month,” the group’s legal adviser Omar Atout said, describing the decision as “illegal and against the Constitution.”
“We are preparing the necessary documents to support our case and register it within a week,” Atout told The Jordan Times yesterday.
The plot in question houses the TAGI headquarters, which includes research, studies and auditing offices, the group’s major business lines.
On June 12, 2005, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) sent a cautionary notice to the group, which included a zoning committee decision prohibiting construction work, sale or licensing of land located in parcel No.14 in Abdali.
The municipality said the decision placed this land under study for “public benefit”, as it plans to expand a street adjacent to the TAGI buildings, which links Abdali and Shmeisani, the capital’s busiest districts which witness a large volume of traffic.
The municipality announced the expropriation of this land on July 14.
TAGI, however, claims that GAM has been acting on behalf of the Abdali Investment and Development Company, a private shareholding company that owns a real estate development project adjacent to TAGI’s offices, where it intends to build towers and malls.
“The municipality acted as a mediator to convince us to sell” the land to that company, the TAGI official website said.
But an official source told The Jordan Times yesterday that the issue is now between the government and the group and GAM is no longer a party.
“We are in a country that respects the law... anyone can file a lawsuit against a government decisions if he feels it is unjust,” he said.
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