Aayushi Srivastava –
Published On: November 06, 2021 at 13:50 IST
The Supreme Court of Russia gave Russia at least a temporary success in an Appeal of what is considered to be the world’s largest Judgement in an Arbitration dispute.
The ruling prolongs what has already been a years-long legal dispute between Russia and Former Yukos’ shareholders.
It overturned a Lower Court decision, thereby setting aside a $50 billion judgement awarded to former shareholders in 2014 and remanding the case to an Amsterdam court to evaluate Russian charges that the shareholders committed fraud during the original arbitration sessions.
The rest of Russia’s claims were rejected by the highest Dutch Court, which was welcomed by the former Shareholders, who stated that they “Won on all substantive grounds of Russia’s appeal.”
“We will study the Supreme Court ruling, but are confident that the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam will dismiss the baseless allegations raised by the Russian Federation, and the arbitral awards will be upheld,” stated Tim Osborne, chief executive of GML, the holding Company of Former Yukos majority Shareholders.
Yukos Oil Company, formerly a significant oil producer, went bankrupt in 2006 when its CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky had a falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As the conflict grew more heated, the government began seeking billions of dollars in alleged past taxes, resulting in the company’s seizure.
An International Panel of Arbitrators found in 2014 that the Russian Government conducted a “Full attack on Yukos and its beneficial owners in order to ruin Yukos and appropriate its assets while also eliminating Mr. Khodorkovsky from politics.”
The Netherlands’ Highest Court, however, decided in favor of the Putin administration on 5th November.
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