Tag: Rheinmetall

IBM, Ford not liable for ‘apartheid claims’ – US court

A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a 12-year-old lawsuit accusing Ford Motor and IBM of encouraging human rights abuses in apartheid-era SA, reluctantly concluding the case does not belong in US courts.

US district judge Shira Scheindlin said last week the black South Africans who brought the case did not show “relevant conduct” by Ford and IBM within the US to justify holding the companies liable.

The plaintiffs had accused Ford, IBM and other companies of having between the 1970s and early 1990s aided SA’s former apartheid government in abuses such as killings and torture, by having made military vehicles and computers for government security forces.

“That these plaintiffs are left without relief in an American court is regrettable,” Scheindlin wrote. “But I am bound to follow [legal precedent], no matter what my personal view of the law may be.”

The case had been brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that lets non-US citizens pursue some cases in US courts over alleged violations of international law.

In April 2013, the US Supreme Court said that law was presumed to cover only violations in the United States, or violations elsewhere that “touch and concern” US territory “with sufficient force”.

Four months later, the federal appeals court in Manhattan applied that holding, and said the Ford and IBM cases should be dismissed altogether.

In April, Scheindlin nonetheless gave the plaintiffs one more chance, to meet the new standards imposed by those higher courts.

But in Thursday’s decision, she said the bar proved too high, and that any alleged international law violations were by Ford’s and IBM’s South African units, and occurred abroad.

“It has been 12 years. We’re really disappointed, devastated by the decision,” said Diane Sammons, a partner at Nagel Rice in Roseland, New Jersey, who represents some plaintiffs.

“The end result of the ruling is that corporations can act abroad with impunity, even if they’re totally controlling the activities of their foreign subsidiaries,” she added. “I don’t think the Supreme Court’s decision was that narrowly defined.”

She said the plaintiffs had not decided whether to appeal.

Jonathan Hacker, an O’Melveny & Myers partner who represents Ford, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Keith Hummel, a Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner who represents IBM, did not immediately respond to similar requests.

Germany’s Daimler and Rheinmetall were dismissed as defendants in December. – Reuters

Rheinmetall seals deal with Algeria

Germany’s Economy Ministry has approved plans by defence group Rheinmetall to deliver an armoured vehicle assembly plant to Algeria, according to a reply sent by the ministry following a request from a member of parliament.

Rheinmetall’s delivery to Algeria includes a production line to assemble the Fuchs armoured vehicle, as well as other parts valued at more than 28 million euros ($37 million), according to the document. German magazine Der Spiegel had earlier reported on the approval, according to Reuters.

The planned factory, located about 400 km east of Algeria’s capital Algiers, is to build nearly 1,000 armoured vehicles, Der Spiegel said, adding parts would be exported to the country, where workers would assemble them. It was earlier reported that 980 Fuchs 2 vehicles will be built as part of a 2.7 billion euro deal. Apparently Algeria has agreed not to sell the vehicles to other countries.

The deal is the result of a visit to Algeria by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2008 and was largely approved by the previous government, Der Spiegel said.

Algeria has ordered around ten billion euros worth of military equipment from Germany in the last few years, including two Meko A200 frigates from Thyssen-Drupp and SUVs and trucks from Daimler. Last year Algeria purchased 825 million euros worth of tank parts, SUVs and trucks from Germany.

In 2011 Germany authorised the export of 54 Fuchs vehicles worth 195 million euros to Algeria, as well as other military vehicles worth 286 million euros, according to Der Spiegel.

Algeria is greatly expanding its military and just this year ordered two Kilo class diesel electric submarines from Russia, and in 2015 the Algerian Navy will take delivery of the landing and logistic support ship Kalaat Beni-Abbes. 42 Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters and six Mi-26T2 cargo helicopters were ordered this year in a nearly $3 billion deal from Russia. Also this year it emerged that Algeria’s military has acquired self-propelled artillery from China.

Earlier this year, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he would tighten rules on arms exports, curbing sales to states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, whose purchases had previously helped make Germany the world’s third largest arms exporter, Reuters reported.

Germany earlier this month permanently halted Rheinmetall’s planned export of combat simulation equipment to Russia, going beyond recently imposed European Union sanctions which block future defence contracts.

As a result, Rheinmetall cut its 2014 operating profit aim, and now expects group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of between 200 million euros and 220 million euros, down from a previous target range of 230 million to 250 million.

Source: defenceweb.co.za

US court rules against liability of German companies for apartheid

daimlerA district court in the US has ruled German companies could not be held responsible for the atrocities committed by the former apartheid regime in South Africa. The decision came after years of legal disputes.

German carmaker Daimler and defense group Rheinmetall could not be linked to any atrocities committed by the apartheid government in South Africa , a judge ruled in the US.

New York District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin made it clear the two German companies could not be sued for compensation under a US law known as the Alien Tort Statute. This allows non-US citizens to bring cases before a court in the United States if they see a violation of international law.

Predominantly South African plaintiffs, victims of racial segregation and violence in the country, maintained that Daimler, Rheinmetall and other firms had supported the apartheid regime through their close business ties with the South African government in the 1970s and 1980s, including the sale of cars and munitions.

Questions remain

A spokesman for the two German companies hailed the ruling, welcoming the legal clarity that had finally been established after years of fierce recriminations.

“We hope that this decision will finally bring to an end more than ten years of legal dispute,” Daimler said in a statement.

But the US judge did not immediately dismiss similar claims made against US companies Ford Motor and IBM, who were not immediately available for comment. – Deutsche Welle