Its owner passed away more than a decade ago
The curse of legal disputes still haunts Gaddafi's plane wherever it goes
Colonel Gaddafi's plane lies at Perpignan airport for maintenance.
From the source
One of the Libyan revolutionaries slept on Gaddafi's bed in the plane.
From the source
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Some wonder about the fate of the luxurious presidential plane of the former Libyan president, Muammar Gaddafi.
This luxurious presidential plane posed legal dilemmas for the new Libyan authorities, as one of the options was to strip it from the VIP cabin and convert it into a regular passenger plane, but it needed maintenance and renewal, and it was not in the status of the A340 presidential plane, which belonged to the former Tunisian president. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was also ousted in the wave of revolts that rocked the Arab world in 2011, was sold to Turkish Airlines.
The previous presidential plane, registered with the number 5A-ONE, was transferred in 2012 to the facilities of EAS Industries (now Sabina Techniques), an aircraft maintenance and repair company, and a sub-contractor for Air France, based in Perpignan, South France.
Unlike other Libyan planes that were damaged during a shootout in 2011 at Tripoli airport, which had to be written off, Gaddafi's A340 aircraft remained airworthy, but the damage sustained during the airport battle was serious enough, to the point that the flight reached Long 900 miles to France, it is about two-thirds lower than the normal flight height.
Legal dispute
Once the plane arrived in France, it was repaired and repainted.
The old paint, which was adorned with it at the commemoration of the announcement of the decision to establish the African Union on September 9, 1999, soon disappeared and was replaced by a new one bearing the Libyan flag.
By 2013, the plane was ready to fly again, but instead of introducing it into commercial service, the Libyan government kept it for its own use.
Shortly after that, the security situation in Libya deteriorated, and by March 2014, 5A-ONE had returned to Perpignan for maintenance, but this time, its arrival on French territory marked the beginning of an international judicial dispute, which kept it on the ground to this day.
Lawsuits and controversy appear to be a curse that follows this plane wherever it goes.
It was bought for the first time, in 1996, by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, brother of the Sultan of Brunei.
The prince is said to have spent $ 250 million on it to renew it, before selling it less than four years after its purchase, when he was involved in a legal dispute with his family over the exploitation of state funds.
The prominent Saudi businessman, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, bought it from him, but soon after, the A340 was back on the market, and Gaddafi entered the picture, and finally got it in 2006 for $ 120 million.
The sale of this plane led a Jordanian businesswoman, Daad Sharrab, to sue Prince Al-Walid in the United Kingdom, claiming that he owed her in exchange for her role in brokering the deal.
In 2013, a London court ruled in her favor, ordering $ 10 million, plus interest, to be paid.
It was the first of several high-profile legal cases linked to this aircraft.
Under legal fire
In the same year that Gaddafi bought his plane, the Libyan government signed a deal with the Kharafi Group, a Kuwait-based conglomerate, to develop a seaside resort in Tajoura, near Tripoli.
It wasn't long before this deal faltered, and in 2010, the Libyan side scrapped it.
The Kuwaiti group responded by suing the Libyan government before an international arbitration court in Cairo, which ruled the company in 2013 damages amounting to $ 930 million.
It appears that Gaddafi's Air Force One has again fallen within the crossfire, but this time it was legal fire.
The Kharafi Group filed a lawsuit against the Libyan state in France as well, so when the A340 landed in Perpignan, the group sought to confiscate it.
However, in 2015, a local French court ruled that the plane, which landed with a market value of $ 60 million, did not belong to a sovereign state, and therefore is immune from any such claim.
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