The Court of First Instance in Brussels withdrew a preliminary arrest fr om the assets of the National Fund of Kazakhstan in the amount of $21.5 billion, and ruled that it would be possible to lift the arrest of the remaining funds in the amount of 530 million US dollar in English courts. The Ministry of Justice press service informed.
The ministry recalled that Moldovan businessmen Anatol and Gabriel Stati launched lawsuits against Kazakhstan in 2010. The articles demanded 4 billion US dollar from Kazakhstan through arbitration in Sweden, they were awarded 500 million US dollar. $199 million of these funds are associated with alleged expenses for the construction of a gas processing plant.
"Later, through documents received in the US through a separate judicial procedure, Kazakhstan received evidence that the Stati's claims were based on a major fraud. Although the Swedish courts did not quash the arbitral award and did not even essentially consider the fact of fraud, the High Court of England examined the evidence, concluding in June last year that there was sufficient initial evidence that the arbitration award was obtained by fraud and, therefore, appointed a hearing on the essence of fraud in October 2018," the department specified.
After that, the Articles began an unprecedented campaign to enforce the decision in seven countries, having received preliminary arrests of assets belonging to the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the National Fund for more than $22 billion, which far exceeds their claims.
The Justice Ministry explained that the Belgian court has shattered Stati’s strategy, stating that the temporary arrest should be limited only to the amount of Stati's claims and costs, namely 530 million US dollar, which leads to the lifting of the arrest of assets belonging to the National Bank of Kazakhstan for the amount of almost 21.5 billion US dollar. In addition, the Belgian court ruled that it was the English courts that should decide whether there was a ground for freezing. Kazakhstan and the National Bank will take appropriate action in England to lift the rest from the remainder of the frozen funds.
"The strategy by Stati, aimed at increasing the funds for freezing and reaching out to third parties, has cracked. Their strategy was initially aimed at putting pressure on the country," Justice Minister Marat Beketayev commented on the situation.
The Belgian decision came in a week after Stati failed to stop the trial in England, wh ere evidence of fraud will be examined, the department noted. The articles began legal proceedings in England to obtain arrest on Kazakhstan assets. However, the Ministry of Justice press service noted that when evidence of fraud became interested in the court, they made an unsuccessful attempt to stop the case, and last week they tried to postpone the trial, saying that now they will have to represent themselves, as their lawyers King and Spalding ceased to represent them interests a few days earlier.
The London court instead ruled that the trial should continue in October and awarded considerable legal costs to Kazakhstan. "The Stati scheme is collapsing. Regardless of what Stati do, they can no longer hide the truth," Marat Beketayev concluded.
After Kapital (Kazakhstan).
