A Libyan association yesterday filed a court application to have the accounts of a Maltese company frozen after a €63.6 million deal turned sour.

The deal was for 16,000 sports utility vehicles to be imported to Libya and purchased through BH International Limited. However, after part of a delivery was received, the Great Al-Fateh Birth Association claimed the cars were not the same as those it had ordered.

The association is also alleging the company then got hold of a false document to claim that the order was in fact correct, lawyers José Herrera and David Camilleri said.

It did not emerge in court what the vehicles were intended to be used for.

The warrant of seizure was filed against BH International Limited and shareholders Adel Ashur, Charlo Briffa and Venture Services Limited. It was also filed against the representatives of Asia Investments and Assets Limited.

The cars in question were ordered from Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Co. Limited in China, which produces 4x4 sports utility cars and pickup trucks, under the name ZXAuto.

The total value of the deal amounted to €63.587m and, through the court application, the lawyers requested that the whole amount be frozen.

In the application, the association said that a contract was signed on August 20, 2008, to provide 16,000 2009 Grand Hyland cars.

About two years ago, a consignment of 5,250 cars arrived in Libya but they were not of the specification required, having different engines and smaller wheels.

The lawyers asked the court to declare that the vehicles delivered were in fact the wrong models and that the shareholders had participated in the abuse by the company and illicitly benefitted from this abuse. They requested the court to award damages.