A UK high court judge has nullified a damages award to Libya's state-owned General National Maritime Transportation Co (GNMTC) in a long-running bribery case involving Hannibal Gaddafi.

Justice Clare Moulder ruled that an arbitration award of $5m made to the company could not be enforced as the single-ship owning entity that sold a bulker to GNMTC in 2011 no longer existed at the time a claim was filed.