As previously reported, on 29 October 2019 the Tribunal issued an award in favour of the Claimants, awarding damages of less than 1% of the principal sum claimed (USD 1.9 billion).
In November 2019, the Republic of Kazakhstan applied to the English High Court under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, as England is the seat of the arbitration, to challenge those parts of the award.
On 23 November 2020, the English High Court, agreeing with Kazakhstan’s arguments, set aside the parts of the award awarding damages and costs to the Claimants and has remitted these matters to the Tribunal for further determination.
A costs order in favour of the RoK of USD 350,000 was made against World Wide Minerals Ltd and Paul A Carroll QC. The English High Court will assess the amount of further costs to be awarded to the Republic of Kazakhstan in relation to its successful section 68 challenge.
This serves as yet further confirmation that the Republic of Kazakhstan continues to seek to protect its interests, using all appropriate legal mechanisms, to maintain its reputation. This demonstrates a principled and consistent approach to ensure fair decisions.
The interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan in this dispute are represented by the Ministry of Justice together with the global law firm Reed Smith LLP, Joe Smouha QC of Essex Court Chambers, and Christopher Harris QC and Paul Wee, who are both members of 3 Verulam Buildings.
It should be noted that representatives of Essex Court Chambers and 3 Verulam Buildings have previously successfully defended the interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan in a number of multi-billion dollar arbitration claims.
Mr. Ali Malek QC, also of 3 Verulam Buildings, represented the interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the English High Court proceedings in the Stati case in 2017. This resulted in a judgment that there was a sufficient prima facie case that the award in favour of the Stati parties was obtained by fraud.
Ali Malek QC has been named “Banking Silk of the Year”.
Photo source: picture from an open source