RE: Sunday times13 Oct 2025 13:15
The ST article
Arthur Cox to bow out of San Leon case
Barry J Whyte
A bitter multimillion-euro lawsuit between the oil exploration firm San Leon Energy and Asad Ali, a putative investor, has been thrown into doubt as one of the legal teams has indicated it could come off record.
Arthur Cox, the lawyers for Ali and his investment firm Tri Ri Asset Management, told the court they had not made required submissions on time because they had not received instructions.
As a consequence they could bring an application to come off record, Brian Kennedy SC told the court.
It is the latest development in a long-running dispute between San Leon, which was founded by the Irish entrepreneur Oisin Fanning, and Ali over two investments that Ali promised but which
never materialised. The first was a $187 million funding deal in 2023 that was beset by delays and never completed.
The two sides tried again this year with a smaller deal of $50 million, which would be executed by way of a transfer to San Leon of shares in the technology company Palantir in return for shares in San Leon. That also did not complete.
San Leon initiated legal proceedings in the High Court, securing a freezing order over the shares.
Ali was supposed to have filed a reply by September 10 but in the absence of instructions from Ali no further legal documents have been filed.
The case is due back in court on October 22.
The Sunday Times contacted both Arthur Cox and Asad Ali for comment