Shaheena Carrim

Practice Areas

Dispute Resolution and Litigation

We act for clients before all courts, tribunals and specialised bodies in all areas of the law that we practise from pre-trial negotiations to enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards. We regularly appear before the commercial, civil, family and land divisions of our courts, and also before the investigatory and regulatory bodies.

Corporate

We advise on all corporate matters across various sectors from the incorporation of the structure, conducting due diligence, to winding up issues, including cross-border commercial transactions and mergers and acquisitions. We conduct legal due diligence, advise on the setting up of processes, engage in the negotiations and draft the required commercial agreements such as share purchase agreements, shareholders agreements, and asset purchase agreements.

Financing and Transaction Advisory

We assist both financial institutions and borrowers in the negotiation and drafting of finance and security agreements including security assignment agreements.

Capital Markets and Financial Services

We advise on the application of the various financial services enactments in Mauritius to the global business sector. We advise funds, licensed entities, sponsors and investors into funds on formation, structuring and capital raising. We draft all required documents in respect of application for licensing of funds, private placements, offerings on and off the market, bond issuances and assist in the application for regulatory approval. We act as legal adviser for listing on the Stock Exchange and the DEM. We provide legal advice regarding AML/CFT compliance by licensed entities in Mauritius and also conduct AML/CFT compliance audits.

Taxation

We provide tax and structuring advice and representation both locally and on cross-border matters, including double taxation treaty arrangements. We advise on the arm’s length test for related party transactions, and on transfer pricing rules.

Employment

We advise both employers and employees on the full life cycle of employment issues, including human resource policies and procedures, employment contracts, disciplinary procedures, dismissal, pension schemes, immigration and application of permits for foreign residents, appearing before the Industrial Court and Employment Relations Tribunal, redundancies including the Redundancy Board and drafting compromise agreements.

Real Estate and Property

We advise on the landlord-tenant relationship, drafting of lease agreements, structuring of real estate transactions in the context of acquisitions and disposals, projects under the Property Development Scheme, provide ongoing advice to real estate developers, owners and managers on the management of lessor-lessee relationship, and advise smart city and commercial developers. We advise on the land use and planning requirements including compliance with the environmental laws of Mauritius.

Family

We advise on the full cycle on marital and custodial issues, including pre-nuptial agreements, succession planning, and represent clients in divorce, custody, alimony, property division and domestic violence cases.

Intellectual Property and Technology

We advise in relation to claims in support of and in defence of proprietary rights to trademarks, patents and copyrights. We will assist in Initial Coin Offering for digital tokens by drafting the commercial agreements, prospectuses, white papers, licensing requirements and the KYC/AML handbooks as well as any aspect of virtual asset licensing.

Publications

Mergers & Acquisitions Guide 2024 in International Comparative Legal Guides

Languages Spoken

English (proficient), French (proficient) and Urdu (Intermediate)

Experience

• Acted before the Supreme Court in a case involving a tortious claim between foreign parties which set out the jurisprudence in Mauritius on the jurisdiction of the Mauritius courts in such cases.

• Acted for Huawei Technologies before the Supreme Court in the context of enforcement of an English law guarantee.

• Appeared for the Central Electricity Board before the Independent Review Panel in a number of claims in support of tenders awarded.

• Acted for a local SME in the context of the refund of tax wrongly paid against the Mauritius Revenue Authority where the principle of “enrichissement sans cause” was first applied.

• Acted before the Assessment Review Committee in a case involving the calculation of tax payable in the application of the pooling basis under the foreign tax credit regulations.

• Appeared for a large conglomerate in Mauritius in the context of an appeal against its Building and Land Use Permit for the construction of a hotel before the various jurisdictions, from the District Council, the Environment and Land Use Appeal Tribunal up to the stage where leave to appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was refused.

• Appeared before the Environment and Land Use Appeal in relation to an aquaculture project.

• Acted as legal adviser to a borrower in relation to an unsecured USD500million financing transaction.

• Acted before the Supreme Court in a case against the Mauritius Revenue Authority challenging the procedure of “contrainte” in the enforcement mechanism against property of taxpayers.

• Acting in civil cases for recovery of claims including challenging application for “saisie arret”.

• Acting in judicial review cases involving challenge to the findings of Commission of Inquiries.

• Acting before the Supreme Court for a major fund promoter in relation to insolvency issues.

• Acted for an international aviation group in the context of redundancy due to the pandemic.

• Acting in divorce and custody cases including an appeal against a decision granting the custody of a child under The Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Act.

• Acted for Standard Chartered Bank in connection with a financing transaction involving Mauritian and Singapore based entities.

• Acting regularly in cases involving landlord and tenant and application for eviction orders.

Career

December 2002 – December 2021

Self-employed Barrister at Chambers of Sir Hamid Moollan KC, GOSK

January 2022 – Present

Founder, Director and Barrister of SC Legal

Professional Memberships

Acting as independent board member of Financial Services Commission

Acting as independent board member of BDO Solutions Ltd

Acting as independent board member of MFD Group Limited, a listed entity on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.

Industry Sector Expertise

Litigation & Dispute Resolution – civil and commercial disputes

Corporate & Commercial Law – company incorporation, governance, contracts, shareholder matters

Intellectual Property – trademarks, copyright, IP strategy and enforcement

Financial Services & Compliance – regulatory matters, licensing, AML/CFT compliance

Regulatory & Administrative Law – dealings with statutory and regulatory authorities

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Mauritius Jurisdiction

Education