Library
An archive of the key court rulings in the Tristangate dispute.
Swedish Supreme Court upholds $90 million freeze on Kazakhstan National Fund’s assets in Sweden
The Swedish Supreme Court upheld a $90 million freeze on Kazakhstan National Fund’s assets in Sweden. The court ruled that the seized assets representing part of Kazakh National Fund are not protected by sovereign immunity as a matter of international and Swedish law. The Swedish Supreme Court remanded the case to the Svea Court of Appeal for further consideration with respect to other outstanding questions.
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The Luxembourg District Court stays proceedings on the validity of the attachments of various Kazakh state assets obtained by the Stati Parties pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings initiated by Kazakhstan in Luxembourg. The attachments in question are estimated to be worth US$550 million and include Kazakhstan’s 40% shareholding in Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and frozen dividends owed by ERG to Kazakhstan among further receivables. In the meantime, the attachments continue to remain fully in place as a security measure under the award.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands sets aside the Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s decision on the attachment of Kazakhstan’s stake in the international consortium developing the Kashagan oil field, held via Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, and refers the case back to a lower court (the Hague Court of Appeal) for further consideration. Meanwhile, the Kashagan shares attachment, valued at $5.2 billion, remains fully in place.
The federal district court in Washington, D.C. compels Kazakhstan once again to provide discovery of its assets on a worldwide basis – including assets of various Kazakh state instrumentalities such as NBK and Samruk-Kazyna.
The Judge also rebukes Kazakhstan and its legal counsel for the breaches of the previous U.S. court orders regarding discovery:
“Don’t get me wrong, the Republic of Kazakhstan had every right to litigate the petition to confirm the arbitral award, and they had every right to appeal my decision. But those proceedings are over. These are post-judgment proceedings. And the Republic of Kazakhstan and its counsel needs to get that into their heads because the level of intransigence that we’ve seen to date is not acceptable and it officially ends today.”
The Amsterdam Court of Appeals grants recognition with respect to the award, dismissing all of Kazakhstan’s challenges to the award (including based on the fraud allegations).
Kazakhstan files a civil complaint in New York against Argentem Creek Partners and its CEO, alleging that they had been involved in a criminal conspiracy together with the Stati Parties.