Qatar on Sunday sought to apply pressure to the four states laying siege to its economy by saying it had set up a special committee to pursue multi-billion US dollar compensation claims against them.
The announcement by Qatari Attorney General Ali bin Fetais al-Marri threatens to add a further costly legal dimension to the battle between Qatar and its rivals Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
The four nations have already themselves demanded compensation from Doha — one of 13 total demands — for what they allege was past interference in their internal affairs.
The compensation claims would be made on behalf of the businesses affected by the four nations’ land and air embargo, al-Marri said, adding that he had set up a central committee to collate claims.
The four insist they are only mounting a boycott and not a blockade.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was scheduled to begin a 4-day visit to the Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia yesterday to see if he can add to the mediation work already being led by Kuwait.
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson spent the weekend shuttling between the major regional capitals urging both sides to de-escalate the dispute.
A decision was expected yesterday at the high court in London on whether the UK is in breach of its arms export license laws for giving the go-ahead to the UK defense industry to sells arms to Saudi Arabia.
The UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade has brought a judicial review claiming the British government should have suspended arms sales on the basis there was a serious risk the Saudis would use the arms in the war in Yemen.
Separately, the Qatari central bank said it has US$340 billion in reserves, including holdings of its sovereign wealth fund, that could help it weather isolation by its neighbors.
“This is the credibility of our system, we have enough cash to preserve any ... kind of shock,” Qatari central bank Governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani told CNBC in an interview published early yesterday on its Web site.
Al-Thani said the central bank has US$40 billion in reserves plus gold, while the Qatar Investment Authority has US$300 billion in reserves that it could liquidate.
“Qatar has already had a good and unique system. We have laws established against all these kinds of terrorists,” Al Thani said. “We work with the IMF and other institutions to establish our laws and audits and reviews.”
Al Thani said while the central bank has noticed fund outflows from some non-residents, the amounts were not particularly significant.
“There is more coming in,” he said, confirming that inflows are exceeding outflows.
He said long-term contracts in the gas and oil sectors were not seeing any disruptions.
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