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.
