On 16 January 2023, the Swedish Court of Appeal reaffirmed that the Stati Parties, holders of a confirmed US$ 500 million SCC award, are entitled to enforce against Sovereign Wealth Fund assets held in the jurisdiction and valued at approximately US$ 76 million.
Kazakhstan had claimed that the assets, including shares in "blue-chip" Swedish companies, were not located in Sweden. Moreover, that they did not belong to the State at all, but to the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
The Court of Appeal rejected these claims, finding:
"The seized property is located in Sweden and Kazakhstan is the owner of the property. There is no other obstacle to enforcement."
Kazakhstan had also argued that enforcement would be contrary to public policy, alleging that the Statis obtained the award by fraud. The same arguments have been rejected by the Swedish courts, including its Supreme Court, on a number of previous occasions in the context of failed annulment proceedings and the Court of Appeal once again confirmed the position of the curial courts:
"The facts relied on by Kazakhstan and the National Bank in this respect are the same as those examined in the earlier actions for annulment and nullity. There is no reason to make a different assessment now. There is therefore no obstacle to enforcement on this ground..."
It is of note that the Svea Court of Appeal came to a sharply different view on this matter than was reached by the Amsterdam District Court in a first instance determination on similar allegations just a few days ago.
Kazakhstan's claims to sovereign immunity had been rejected in an earlier decision of the Swedish Supreme Court of 18 November 2021.
Rob Bedford, Legal Director, commented:
"As the seat of the arbitration and location of substantial assets, Sweden is a jurisdiction of particular importance in this wide-ranging dispute. This latest result builds on significant decisions on sovereign immunity and paves the way for rare enforcement against assets held in a sovereign wealth fund. This is a fantastic result for the Statis and the team representing them, in particular our colleagues Westerberg & Partners led by Ginta Ahrel, Bo Nilsson and Therese Isaksson."
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 K C and Legal Director Robert Bedford.
