Yukos shareholders will try to take away from the Russian property in India – RBC

At the central office of Yukos, photo 2004

Photo: Grigory Sysoev / TASS

The former Yukos shareholders have opened a new front in the legal “war” for the sovereign Russian assets. Now they will seek recovery of Russian property in India

The former owners of the Yukos oil company, is seeking to recover from the Russian $ 50 billion by the decision of the International Arbitration Tribunal in The Hague for the first time will be spent for the Russian assets in Asia. They filed an application for recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award Hague in India, The Moscow Times newspaper reported today and confirmed RBC representative of the former shareholders.

«Be sure, we go there not because it is like India. We believe that there are substantial assets [Russia] “, – he told the publication director of the Gibraltar GML (former represents Yukos shareholders) Tim Osborne. GML spokesman Graham Ackerman RBC confirmed that the trial started in India, but declined to comment further. “The process is, in the near future there will be a hearing in the Indian court,” – he said,

The Russian Ministry of Justice information about the availability of these applications in the established order has been received, said RBC’s press-service of the Ministry of Justice

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India – the seventh country where ex-Yukos shareholders seeking recognition and enforcement of decisions of the Hague on the $ 50 billion, followed by Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, USA and the Netherlands. In France and Belgium the local legislation allowed the shareholders to immediately seize Russian assets, but to collect them is impossible. “There goes a protracted positional struggle,” – he said in February the Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov. Yesterday, “Roskosmos” announced his victory in the French court in the case of the arrest of funds due to “Roskosmos” from the company Arianespace.

Osborne said that the former shareholders looking for Russian assets in India and intend them to recover as only a local court decision to recognize the Hague arbitration

In India, the Russian Federation there are assets:. for example, the government owns through the Federal Property Management Agency 17.14% stake in Indian mobile operator Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), controlled by AFK “system”. Press Service of the Federal Property Agency wrote RBC that disputes with the former shareholders of Yukos are not within its competence. “Rosatom” is building in India “Kudankulam” NPP (the representative of the State Corporation did not respond to a request RBC). In addition, as reported by RBC, in New Delhi, there are at least three buildings, which carried out the purchase of FSUE “Goszagransobstvennost” control of Russian property abroad.

SSTL is now in the process of merging with Indian telecom company Reliance Communications. In the case of closing the “System” with shareholders Reliance Communications Russian Federation will remain a minority shareholder in SSTL, said RBC representative of AFK “System”. The claim of the former shareholders of Yukos representative “system” did not comment.

Video: RBC

state property on the territory of other states, as a rule, protected by sovereign immunity, and the foreclosure is possible only if it is proven the commercial use of the property.

The Indian judicial system is considered friendly to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. As the Indian law firm Economic Laws Practice in the publication on the global legal portal of the Chambers and Partners, the local courts’ extremely reluctantly denied enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, it is difficult to find precedents for such failures. ” However, an Indian court would not result in the execution of a foreign arbitral award, if it is annulled by a national court of the country where the arbitration, says partner White & amp; Case Diepen Sabharwal publication of the Indian arbitration law in 2014. Thus, the success of the former shareholders of Yukos in India will depend on the forthcoming decision of the District Court of The Hague at the request of Russia, it is expected on 20 April.