Victory for Saudi Prince in Sri Lankan courts

A case instituted in the Commercial High Court of Colombo by M. Z. M. Raffick (Plaintiff), who claimed to be a screenwriter, against the well-known member of the Saudi Royal family, who is also an internationally renowned businessman, investor and philanthropist, concluded on 19 July with the judgement delivered by M. Ahsan R. Marikkar. 

The Plaintiff alleged that having written the film script titled the ‘Diamond Merchant’, he intended to produce a film based on the script. The Plaintiff further stated that knowing the companies in which shares were held by the Saudi Prince engaged in film production, he sought an audience with the Prince during his visit to Sri Lanka in March 2006 and entered into a verbal agreement to produce the film. 

The Saudi Prince, being astonished by the Plaintiff’s assertions, had denied meeting him during his short visit to Sri Lanka, which lasted approximately 12 hours, or any time thereafter. The Defendants therefore claimed that no oral agreement was ever entered into between the Plaintiff and the Prince or the other companies in which the Prince had a stake, which were also named as Defendants in the case. 

Court was of the view that the Plaintiff himself, and several other witnesses who gave evidence on behalf of the Plaintiff, had not been able to produce any evidence to support their case. The Defendants closed their case without producing any witnesses or documents on the basis that the case filed against them is entirely frivolous and fictitious.

The Prince and the Defendant companies took up the position that the case was fraudulently instituted by the Plaintiff in order to extort monies from the Saudi Royalty and was an abuse of the court process. The Defendants also submitted that several documents filed in the proceedings by the Plaintiff were forged documents filed in an attempt to support their otherwise baseless case.

The judgement, dated 19 July, of the Learned High Court Judge found that the Plaintiff had failed to produce any evidence that there was an existing oral agreement between the Plaintiff and any of the Defendants, including the Saudi Prince, for the production of the script, and dismissed the action filed by the Plaintiff.

M. R. M. Dyailam appeared for the Plaintiff whilst Avindra Rodrigo P.C. with Nimesha de Silva, instructed by F. J. & G. de Saram, appeared for the Prince of Saudi Arabia and other Defendant companies.