The Supreme Court in Sweden rejected the appeal of Oleg Deripaska against Montenegro in which he requested the annulment of the decision of the Court of Appeal from 2022 related to the privatization procedure of "Aluminium Plant Podgorica" and "Bauxite Mine", announced the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism.
According to the procedures, as they say, that case is now closed except for the implementation of the procedure for the collection of costs in the arbitration and the contested procedure. This, they point out, is a significant amount that Deripaska should pay to Montenegro in accordance with the verdict, which will be determined in the procedure for the collection of costs.
In a civil proceeding against Montenegro, before the Court of Appeal in Sweden, Oleg Deripaska sought to change the arbitration decision made in the 2016 proceedings, which was also made in favor of Montenegro, demanding that it be annulled. The procedure ended in November 2022, with the Court of Appeal in Sweden ruling in favor of Montenegro. The Court of Appeal then ordered Oleg Deripaska to compensate Montenegro for the costs of the proceedings in the total amount of 628.456 euros and 86.075 dollars, the ministry added.
They remind that on December 5, 2016, on the basis of the Agreement on Stimulation and Mutual Protection of Investments (BIT) concluded between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Russian Federation, and in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, Deripaska initiated arbitration proceedings against Montenegro regarding the privatization of "Kombinat Aluminum Podgorica AD" and "Bauxite Mine AD Nikšić". The decision of the tribunal in this proceeding was made on October 15, 2019, and the same tribunal unanimously decided: that the BIT between the FRY and Russia is not applicable to Montenegro, that it accepts the objection of lack of jurisdiction raised by Montenegro on that basis and, therefore, refused jurisdiction to decide on the claims and awarded all costs in the total amount of 1.600.730,85 euros in favor of Montenegro.
"Regarding the aforementioned decision of the Tribunal, and considering that Deripaska did not pay the amount awarded to Montenegro, in the previous period the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism decided to continue with actions aimed at settling the claim in question by conducting a search of his property, which In the meantime, circumstances arose that halted these activities, primarily the war in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russia and its nationals.
"Not accepting the obligations arising from the aforementioned decision of the tribunal, on January 15, 2020, Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, in accordance with section 36 of the Swedish Arbitration Act, submitted to the Court of Appeal in that country a request to amend the arbitration decision made in the 2016 procedure. , demanding that it be annulled. When assessing Deripaska's legal basis, the Appellate Court accepted the arguments of our country and ruled in favor of Montenegro. Not even accepting the Appellate Court's verdict, Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska tried to file an appeal with the Supreme Court in Sweden, and it was rejected. also in favor of Montenegro," the ministry added.
Deripaska, they point out, continues to refuse to voluntarily pay the amounts to which he is obligated by previous decisions of the arbitration tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Sweden and obstructs court proceedings. "However, Montenegro will use all legal options to compel the collection of its claims in accordance with these decisions, as well as the costs related to the proceedings before the Supreme Court in Sweden," the announcement concludes.
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