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The ill-fated Soviet space shuttle which has been stranded in Bahrain since 2002 is set to make its final voyage and return to Europe after a bitter four-and-half-year legal battle.
The Buran 0.02, a full-scale test vehicle, which lies in pieces in a storage yard in Mina Salman, will be transported to Germany after a ruling by Bahrain’s High Civil Court on Sunday.
The ruling marks the end of a volatile ownership dispute between Russian company NPO Molniya and Singapore-based Space Shuttle World Tours (SSWT).
The row broke out shortly after the shuttle was brought to Bahrain for a summer festival in 2002.
GulfWeekly recently reported how the opening of a major Malaysian international aerospace exhibition was delayed because the Buran was supposed to be its star attraction.
This week the court ruled in favour of the shuttle’s original owners NPO Molniya who built it in conjunction with the USSR space agency in the 1980s.
The decision means that NPO Molniya will able to transfer the shuttle to a new buyer – the Auto Technik Museum Sinsheim/Speyer in Germany.
Lorenz Gluck, counsel for the museum, who also had power of attorney to act for NPO Molniya, said: “We are very relieved and happy. It is good to know that the courts of Bahrain are independent and very qualified. The result is the only way to observe justice.”
Michael Walter, manager of the museum, added: “It is very important to NPO Molniya, our Russian partners, to see this space shuttle exhibited in the largest museum in Europe. Together with numerous other exhibits the space shuttle Buran will be the highlight of our Space Exhibition in a building specially created for this purpose.”
He believes the move will prevent the shuttle from becoming a “fairground act”, adding: “The plan is instead to award it due respect, acknowledge Russian space technology and to present it to the public in a dignified and historical ambience.”
NPO Molniya originally sold the shuttle to SSWT but claimed payments totalling $320,000 (BD120,604) were outstanding and a court case ensued.
After years of litigation, Bahrain’s High Criminal Court last year ruled in favour of NPO Molniya and ordered the sales contract to be terminated.
SSWT appealed against the verdict at Bahrain’s Supreme Civil Appeal Court in March, but the court again ruled in NPO Molniya’s favour.
However, the owner of SSWT, Kevin Tan, had already leased the shuttle to an events company called Best Venue to exhibit it at the event in Malaysia.
In April, Mr Tan brought a counter-case against NPO Molniya, claiming that payments had been made and that a former employee of NPO Molniya had transferred rights of ownership to him personally during a meeting in Bahrain.
He called for the release of the Buran so it could be transferred to Malaysia.
Meanwhile, NPO Molniya also found a new buyer – the German museum.
The German museum and NPO Molniya co-operated to counter Mr Tan’s claim, which has since been dismissed. He has 45 days to appeal the verdict.
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By -RdS-
editor@gulfweekly.com
