19.06.2018

GML takes part in procedural hearing in The Hague

On 19 June 2018, GML, the former Yukos majority shareholders, took part in a procedural hearing at The Hague Court of Appeal. This was part of the ongoing Dutch set-aside proceedings in which GML aims to reinstate the Arbitral Awards of 2014.

The 2014 Awards are the result of a decade-long independent arbitration in The Hague, which ruled unanimously that Yukos Oil Company was unlawfully expropriated by the Kremlin. The Arbitral Tribunal awarded compensation of over $50 billion to the former Yukos majority shareholders.

The Awards were then set aside in 2016 by the District Court of The Hague on the grounds that the Arbitral Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to rule as the Russian Federation had not ratified the Energy Charter Treaty. GML has since appealed to The Hague Court of Appeal to reinstate the Awards.

At the procedural hearing of 19 June, GML demonstrated that the Kremlin is violating Dutch law by attempting to alter the factual and legal basis of its claims to set aside the Arbitral Awards. The Kremlin wants to divert the Court’s attention from the legal question that truly matters – whether the Arbitral Tribunal had the jurisdiction to rule in this dispute – and from the truth: an unlawful expropriation by a ruthless regime, which used all the power of the state to destroy a successful company and hand its assets to Rosneft and Gazprom, the state-controlled companies.

GML has argued that the Court should disregard the Russian Federation’s attempts to alter the factual and legal basis of its claims. The court is expected to rule on these procedural matters by 25 September 2018.