MAJOR VICTORY FOR LINDAHL'S CLIENT IN 500 MILLION DOLLAR DISPUTE AGAINST KAZAKHSTAN
Lindahl represented the Moldovan investors Anatolie and Gabriel Stati and their companies, Ascom Group SA and Terra Raf Trans-Traiding Ltd. in an investment dispute with Kazakhstan, who challenged the arbitral award at the Court of Appeal.
The basis for the dispute concerns significant investments in the oil and gas fields, which were expropriated by Kazakhstan in 2010. The investors called for an international arbitration under the Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, based on the investment protection provisions in the multilateral Energy Charter Treaty.
In the arbitral award, rendered 19 December 2013, Kazakhstan was ordered to compensate investors with approximately USD 500 million. Kazakhstan turned to the Svea Court of Appeal, requesting an annulment of the arbitral award. Kazakhstan held inter alia that the award should be annulled because the award, or the manner in which the award arose, is clearly incompatible with the basic principles of the Swedish legal system i.e. it contravenes ordre public.
The Court of Appeal has now found that Kazakhstan's challenge action shall be dismissed in full and the judgment cannot be appealed. The judgment also means that the investors shall receive full compensation for their legal costs.
Lindahl's team for the investors consisted of Bo GH Nilsson, Therese Isaksson, Ginta Ahrel and Alexander Engström. Lindahl worked closely with the investors' representatives in the arbitral proceedings - Reggie Smith, Kevin Mohr, Ken Fleuriet and Egishe Dzhazoyan from the law firm King & Spalding.