BEIRUT: Gold and jewelry merchants in Lebanon on Wednesday demanded that real-estate giant Solidere respect the contracts they had signed with them in the past and allow them to open shops and offices in the gold souk which reopened less than a year ago.

Speaking at a news conference at the Press Federation building, representatives of jewelers and gold merchants, who said they had been duped by Solidere, stressed that they had provided the company a total of $40 million in the form of downpayments.

But Solidere, according to merchants, breached the contract through the use of different excuses and paid traders back all the downpayments.

The court will set another hearing on October 12, 2010, in an attempt to settle the lawsuits between both parties.

Some 120 merchants signed contracts to lease or buy shop and office spaces in the souk which Solidere was rebuilding.

The syndicate filed a law suit against Solidere in June 2009.

But out of the 120 merchants who paid downpayments to Solidere, only 42 decided to keep fighting for their rights.

Jean Tabet, the merchants’ lawyer, said in 1997 Solidere came up with the idea of rebuilding the souk and encouraged merchants to pay money upfront to allow the firm to start work.

“Solidere asked the jewelers to complete the transactions and sent delegates to Belgium to convince the merchants about the importance of the project,” the lawyer said.

He added that the $40 million provided by the merchants had enabled Solidere to complete the souk project.

Other merchants at the conference insisted they did not seek any compromises and the only thing they wanted was to open the shops but under the previous rates which they agreed upon years ago with Solidere.

Head of the Gold and Jewelry Syndicate Naim Rizk said the jewelers were not interested in getting back their payments.

But Solidere said in a statement that the case between the jewelers and the firm was being handled by the Justice Department and that it was the only party which had the right to issue a verdict. Solidere also warned that anyone who slandered the firm would be prosecuted according to the law.

Solidere also said a number of jewelers had submitted offers to buy office and shop space in the gold souk but that the conditions the jewelers had set were not in line with Solidere’s guidelines.

The firm said some of the jewelers had provided checks which did not exceed 5 percent of the total value they were offering to prove their seriousness. These jewelers, according to Solidere, stipulated the deposits could be reimbursed in the event that the firm turned down their offers.

Solidere said in June 2008 the talks it held with the Gold and Jewelers Syndicate reached a dead end, prompting it to pay back all deposits they had submitted.