Translated material
The "leg" is coming
A court in Switzerland allowed to freeze the accounts of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
The head of Noga, Nessim Gaon, continues a large-scale offensive against Russia , which, he believes, owes him a tidy sum under contracts concluded in the early 90s of the last century. At the beginning of January 2008, based on Mr. Gaon’s lawsuits, the accounts of the Central Bank and a number of Russian companies (including Roscosmos, Rosoboronexport, Rosatom, and the RIA Novosti news agency) in French banks were arrested.Yesterday, according to Dow Jones, the Supreme Court of Switzerland confirmed the legality of the actions of the Swiss prosecutor's office to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia at the request of Noga. The court rejected the Russian government's complaint against the temporary seizure in May 2007 of a certain amount (the amount of funds was not specified in the message) in the Geneva branches of UBS, Credit Suisse Group and BNP Paribas Suisse.
According to court documents, Nessim Gaon intends to recover 1.185 billion Swiss francs and interest on debts incurred as a result of Moscow's failure to pay for the supply of goods to Russia in the early 90s. “The Russian government must pay. They have been keeping us waiting for 14 years now,” Mr. Gaon said.
Meanwhile, back in 1997, the Stockholm International Arbitration Court, having rejected many of Noga’s claims, recorded a debt of approximately $70 million. During the bankruptcy of the Swiss company, the rights to claim this debt passed to four French banks. In 2006, the debt was bought by an American entrepreneur, ex-USSR citizen Alexander Kogan, who resold it to the Russian Federation. In this regard, the Russian side believes that Noga no longer has the right to make any financial claims against Russia.
However, Mr. Gaon is sure of the exact opposite. And his position also appears to be supported by court decisions. It was reported, for example, that in the same 2006, a deal to buy out debt by Mr. Kogan from French banks was declared invalid by the Geneva court.
However, according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance issued on Wednesday, after Noga lost the right to receive funds by a decision of the Stockholm court, “no court has ruled that it can continue to have any interest” related to with the implementation of these decisions.
Be that as it may, at the beginning of the year two courts - one in France, the second in Switzerland - took the side of Mr. Gaon, which again jeopardized Russia's property. Let us recall that arrests of Russian movable property abroad (previously attempts were made to arrest ships, planes, paintings, etc.) became possible due to the fact that, according to the agreements between the Russian Federation and Noga, Russia is responsible for their failure with property.
The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Russia did not comment yesterday on the decision of the Federal Court in Lausanne and its possible consequences for Russia. Although, as they say, don’t go to a fortune teller, assessments will be given similar to those that have been made in recent days. For example, in a press release from the Ministry of Finance issued on Wednesday, it is reported that actions have already been taken to release most of the blocked assets. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance believes, the press release says, that in addition to challenging the seizure of accounts, Russian organizations affected by the actions of the Swiss company will soon present counterclaims. And not only to Noga, but “and to all those who assisted it in the illegal seizure of Russian assets.” Counterclaims will include claims for damages as well as disciplinary sanctions.
In turn, a source close to the Central Bank said the day before yesterday that the seizure of Bank of Russia accounts was illegal. According to him, in all civilized countries the principle of independence of central banks operates, so they are not responsible for government debts anywhere. Accordingly, according to Russian laws, the Bank of Russia is also independent and is not liable for the debts of the Russian government. In France, this fact was confirmed by a law adopted in 2005 (although back in 2000 and 2002, lawyers for the Bank of Russia managed to prove in the courts that the bank was not liable for the government’s debts).
Based on this law , the Central Bank's account in one of the French banks has already been unblocked .