Judgment in favor of Montenegro in the dispute with Deripaska

On November 10, the Court of Appeal in Sweden ruled in favor of Montenegro regarding Oleg Vladimirovič Deripaska's request to annul the arbitration decision from 2019 related to the privatization process of "Kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica AD" (KAP) and "Bauxite Mine AD Nikšić", it was announced. from the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism.
Also, the court ordered Deripaska to compensate Montenegro for the costs of the proceedings before that institution in the total amount of 628,456 euros and 86,075 dollars.
They remind that on December 5, 2016, on the basis of the Agreement on Stimulation and Mutual Protection of Investments (BIT) concluded between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Russian Federation, and in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, Deripaska initiated arbitration proceedings against Montenegro regarding the privatization of KAP- and the bauxite mine.
"The decision of the tribunal in this proceeding was made on October 15, 2019, and the same tribunal unanimously decided: that the BIT between the FRY and Russia is not applicable to Montenegro, that it accepts the objection of lack of jurisdiction raised by Montenegro on this basis and, therefore, rejected jurisdiction to decide on claims and awarded all costs in the total amount of 1,600,730.85 euros in favor of Montenegro", they state in the announcement.
In connection with the aforementioned decision of the Tribunal, and considering that Deripaska did not pay the amount awarded to Montenegro, in the previous period, they state that the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism has decided to continue with actions aimed at settling the claim in question by conducting a search of his property over which compulsory collection could be carried out.
In the meantime, as they state, circumstances arose that stopped these activities, primarily the war in Ukraine and the introduction of sanctions against Russia and its citizens.
"Not accepting the obligations arising from the aforementioned decision of the Tribunal, on January 15, 2020, Oleg Deripaska, in accordance with section 36 of the Swedish Arbitration Act, submitted to the Court of Appeal in that country a request to amend the arbitration decision made in the 2016 procedure, demanding that it be annulled. When assessing the legal basis of Deripaska, the appellate court accepted the arguments of our country and rendered a verdict in favor of Montenegro," they concluded in the statement.

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