On 9 January the Amsterdam District Court handed down the latest judgment in relation to the Stati Parties' efforts to obtain recognition and enforcement in the Netherlands of a confirmed SCC arbitral award.
Whilst the court recognised and agreed that Kazakhstan had "acted seriously unlawfully" subjecting the Statis to "a string of measures of coordinated harassment by various [State] institutions", the court refused permission to enforce in the Netherlands on the basis of alleged fraud.
Fraud allegations were considered at length and ultimately rejected by both the Swedish (curial) courts following extensive annulment proceedings as well as by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in an earlier decision which was subsequently quashed on procedural grounds.
It is surprising that the District Court reached a different decision following a single day of submissions. The Stati Parties are considering the judgment with their legal team and a return to the Amsterdam Court of Appeal is likely.
The Stati Parties' enforcement actions in other jurisdictions are unaffected.
Astraea Group acts as Global Counsel for the Stati Parties in their ongoing, multi-jurisdictional action to enforce a US$500 million SCC arbitral award against the Republic of Kazakhstan. The team is led by managing partner James Ramsden KC and Legal Director Rob Bedford.