-British Virgin Island High Court reverses Reko Diq case verdict, saves PIA hotels & litigation expense
-Attorney General for Pakistan terms it as ‘great level victory for Pakistan’
-Roosevelt hotel, Scribe hotel’s ownership return to PIA
Foreign Desk Report
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND: The high court of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has Tuesday withdrew the earlier verdict in the Reko Diq case wherein PIA hotels in Paris and Manhattan were frozen as the country was liable to pay out a whopping US$6 billion to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) and released PIA assets registered by BVS company.
The BVI High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of Pakistan after a review appeal the country submitted on the Nov 2020 verdict in which TCC had won an award of US$6 billion, about the size of IMF’s bailout package to Pakistan, to be paid by Pakistan and in turn asked the court to freeze its assets registered in BVS remits. BVS then had frozen the assets of PIA: Hotel Scribe Paris and The Roosevelt Hotel (Manhattan) but a review petition then filed by the Pakistani litigation team has now won the PIA assets back as the freezing has been axed.
Moreover, the high court has further ruled the litigation expenses incurred by the country in the reveiw appeal will also be recompensed by TCC. Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) office said judgment is a “Great legal victory for PIA and Pakistan”.
Earlier this year when the legal team of a foreign firm arrived in Islamabad for consultations over the Reko Diq case and foreign legal experts mulled over the case with Pakistani officials for preparation of the country’s case in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank arbitration court. The foreign lawyers’ team also held consultations with the Office of the Attorney General and other concerned officials in the case.
The company had approached the World Bank arbitration court in 2012 after the Balochistan government declined its lease request. The Supreme Court of Pakistan had terminated the deal in 2013. The mining company said that it had invested over $220 million in Reko Diq project.
