Arbitrator Rules On Future of Gold Tower 42

Arbitrators in Seoul have ruled that the company contracted to build the $240 million Gold Tower 42 project in Phnom Penh was in breach of contract after failing to raise funds to finish the project, which resulted in work stopping almost two years ago, a lawyer involved with the case said yesterday. Yoo Jeoung-hoon, an associate lawyer at Jipyong & Jisung, the firm representing Yon Woo Cambodia, which owns the unfinished Gold Tower skyscraper on Monivong Boulevard, said the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board ruled on June 4 that South Korea’s Hanil Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. must pay $30 million in damages to Yon Woo. “The arbitrators said Hanil would have to pay compensation of $30 million,” Mr. Yoo said by telephone yesterday, adding that his clients now have the freedom to decide on the future of the building. “At this point, they can now make a decision on what to do with the project,” Mr. Yoo said. …