The British Virgin Islands high court has ruled in favor of Pakistan in the Reko Diq case and ordered to restore all the frozen assets of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
During a hearing today, the British Virgin Islands High Court rejected the Tethyan Copper Company’s petition and ordered it to pay Pakistan’s legal costs in the case. Receivers at Roosevelt Hotel New York and Scribe Hotel Paris have been removed following the court ruling.
A statement issued by the Attorney General said that all the decisions against PIA in the Reko Diq case have been reversed, this decision is our great victory. The British Virgin Islands High Court has ruled in favor of Pakistan, he added.
He said that the verdict in favor of Tethyan Copper Company (TTC) in the Reko Diq case has been quashed. Rose Welt Hotel and Scribe Hotel Paris have also been returned to Pakistan.
Additional Attorney General for Pakistan and Head of International Disputes Unit Ahmed Irfan represented Pakistan before the BVI court. The Pakistan International Airline (PIA) engaged its own legal team in the case. Likewise, all offshore companies, two registered PIA hotels hired their separate counsels.
Meanwhile, responding to the development, PIA said that justice had prevailed and thanked the people of the country for their prayers. “BVI decide[d]in favor of PIA, releasing all hard-earned assets i.e., Roosevelt NYC & Scribe Paris. Great victory for PIA and Pakistan. We won this together,” the airline said.
PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik saying the airline’s valuable assets had been secured, termed the development a “great victory for Pakistanis.”
Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) on November 20, last year had sought attachment of assets for enforcement of the $6 billion awards that the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) slapped on Pakistan on July 12, 2019, for revoking the TTC mining contract at Reko Diq in Balochistan.
Despite the withdrawal of attachment orders by the BVI court, the $6 billion awards against Pakistan will still be intact. The ICSID stayed the enforcement of the $6b awards and on September 17 and issued a 70-page order which said the stay shall continue on a conditional basis.
The arbitrator ordered Pakistan to provide an “unconditional and irrevocable” bank guarantee or the letter of credit (LC) for 25 percent of the award, plus accrued interest as of the date of the decision.
The guarantee or the LC was to come from a reputable international bank based outside of Pakistan, which was pledged in favour of the claimant — the TCC — and to be released on the order of the ICSID.
The ICSID also held that if Pakistan could not furnish the security and undertaking in terms as set out within 30 days after notification of the decision, the stay of enforcement in the amount of 50 percent of the award, plus accrued interest as of the date of the decision would be lifted. However, Pakistan missed the deadline and did not deposit a 25 percent bank guarantee.
