Gaspar Nyika

Practice Areas

Gaspar is a senior disputes and tax practitioner with over 25 years of experience advising and representing clients in complex commercial litigation, arbitration, and tax matters. He acts for multinational corporations, financial institutions, government entities, non-governmental organisations, and mining companies on high-stakes disputes and regulatory challenges.

His commercial litigation practice focuses on business-critical disputes, including breach of contract claims, debt recovery, construction and infrastructure disputes, and general commercial matters. Gaspar is recognised for his strategic litigation skills, deep sector understanding, and ability to deliver commercially aligned outcomes in technically demanding cases.

Gaspar has substantial experience in international arbitration and has successfully represented clients in proceedings conducted under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, as well as in ad hoc domestic arbitrations under the Arbitration Act. His arbitration work spans both commercial and investment-related disputes, often involving complex contractual, regulatory, and cross-border considerations.

In tax, Gaspar is highly regarded for his advisory, negotiation, and contentious practice. He regularly advises on income tax, VAT, customs and excise duty, transfer pricing, and international taxation matters. He has appeared extensively before the Tax Revenue Appeals Board, the Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal, and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, where he has argued complex and precedent-setting tax appeals, securing favourable outcomes for clients.

Career

Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania and all courts subordinate thereto (except primary courts)

Professional Memberships

Tanganyika Law Society

East Africa Law Society

Work Highlights

• Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania and two of its affiliates in a USD490 million claim involving a power purchase agreement;

• Acacia Mining and its subsidiaries claims at the high court involving more than USD33 million;

• Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong in a claim of approximately USD3.2 billion at the High Court of Tanzania against an electricity generation and operation company in connection with a loan restructuring and refinancing;

• The National Bank of Commerce at the High Court Commercial Division in various recovery matters worth TZS30 billion;

• An international construction company in an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration against a local contractor in connection with the construction of apron slabs at an airport in Mbeya involving in excess of TZS2 billion;

• DB Shapriya against Stefanutti in an arbitration arising from a construction contract worth around USD1.7 billion under ICC rules held in Tanzania;

• Norconsult AS, an international consulting firm, at the ICC International Court for Arbitration in Paris in a dispute involving breach of contract against a local road agency wherein Norconsult was awarded more than USD1 million in aggregate;

• A tax dispute relating to disallowed interests and foreign exchange losses instructed by a local tobacco processing and trading company with multinational shareholders as parent companies;

• Acacia London on the remedies available to the company in respect of the notice of seizure and charges issued by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Customs and Excise Department against Pangaea Mineral’s Limited and Bulyanhulu Gold Mine Limited for seizure of 277 containers at the Dar es Salaam port; and

• A major tobacco company in Tanzania in an income tax dispute involving a TZS7.3 billion foreign exchange loss expense and TZS8.1 billion unrealized balances in relation to foreign exchange losses arising from prior years.

Industry Sector Expertise

• Litigation and arbitration

• Tax

Languages Spoken

• English

• Swahili

Publications

https://www.dlapiperafrica.com/en/tanzania/insights/2026/A31933-legal-alert-flyer-v1

Education