A subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering, the world’s largest publicly traded contractor, has been dragged into a New York court on allegations it intentionally hampered the development of a $3.5bn luxury casino resort in the Bahamas.
The complaint brings head to head the son of an Armenian peanut magnate with one of China’s most powerful state-owned companies over a sprawling seaside hotel and casino complex near Nassau, the Bahamian capital.
With 2,200 rooms, private beaches and a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, the Baha Mar resort was once expected to add 12 per cent to the small island nation’s gross domestic product.