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A decade-long fight between Kazakhstan and Moldovan oil and gas investors who won a half-billion-dollar arbitral award against the country has come to a close, with the parties inking a binding framework to resolve their dispute.

The "mutually-favorable" agreement will end all legal proceedings and terminate any ongoing claims across all jurisdictions, the Republic of Kazakhstan said on Tuesday. Its terms are confidential.

Kazakhstan's Strategic Settlement

"The decision on the settlement was made in view of the public interest and the settlement does not involve any budgetary funds," Kazakhstan Minister of Justice Azamat Yeskarayev said in a statement.

"We believe that the move will have a positive effect on attracting new investments into Kazakhstan and the growth of its economy," Yeskarayev added.

Investors Anatolie Stati and his son Gabriel Stati won a $506 million arbitral award against Kazakhstan in Swedish courts in 2013, after Kazakhstan seized certain petroleum operations in 2010.

Kazakhstan Agrees To End Fight Over $506M Award : A Complex Web of Litigation

The contentious dispute has led to a convoluted, trans-Atlantic web of litigation. The Statis convinced courts in England, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as the U.S., to enforce the award. Yet Kazakhstan has fought back, refusing to pay and pursuing litigation, arguing the investors deceived and misled courts and inflated the value of investments to influence damages calculations.

The Statis, indicted in Luxembourg in fall 2022 in connection with attempts to enforce the allegedly fraudulent award, have vigorously denied committing any fraud. They won a ruling in Sweden in 2023, clearing a path for $75 million held in a Swedish bank on behalf of the National Bank of Kazakhstan to be seized, with Anatolie Stati initiating a $6.8 billion claim against Kazakhstan in Moldova, alleging that the expropriation of his assets stemmed from blackmail and slander by ex-leaders of the country.

Future Implications for Kazakhstan

"We support the framework agreement and commend President [Kassym-Jomart] Tokayev's decision to create a Fair Kazakhstan as part of his admirable reform objectives," Daniel Chapman, CEO of Argentem Creek Partners, which according to Kazakhstan is an investment manager for funds that are creditors of Tristan Oil Ltd., an investment vehicle of the Statis, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This settlement demonstrates that Kazakhstan is honoring its international treaty obligations and by so doing is opening its doors to increased investment and improving its economic growth potential. We welcome this new era for Kazakhstan," Chapman added.