site.btaArbitration Court Closes Case on Omani Claims v. Bulgaria over Corpbank Failure

ESD 16:33:31 17-08-2019
DS1631ES.104
104 ECONOMY - SULTANATE OF OMAN - BULGARIA - CORPBANK - CASE

Arbitration Court Closes Case on Omani
Claims against Bulgaria over
Corpbank Failure


Sofia, August 17 (BTA) - The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, D.C. has closed the case initiated by the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of the Sultanate of Oman against Bulgaria over the failure of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank). The proceedings ended after the SGRF renounced its claims thus precluding the possibility of the same claims being laid again, the Finance Ministry said Saturday.

Arbitration Case No. ARB/15/43 "SGRF of the Sultanate of Oman v. Republic of Bulgaria" was instituted on October 22, 2015. The SGRF claimed 80 million euro in compensation for an alleged violation by Bulgaria of the standards for treatment of international investors established in the 2007 Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the two countries through the actions taken by the Bulgarian Government, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) and the Bulgarian court whereby Corpbank was placed under special supervision and delicensed in 2014.

Luxembourg-registered Bulgarian Acquisition Co., controlled by the SGRF, held a 30.4 per cent stake in Corpbank, then Bulgaria's fourth biggest lender.

During the proceedings at the ICSID, Bulgaria submitted written evidence and opinions of world-renowned experts. In December 2018, the SGRF renounced its claims against the BNB and the other Bulgarian institutions.

In view of this renouncement, the ICSID has rejected the SGRF's claims as ungrounded and has ordered the claimant to cover all of Bulgaria's expenses for the proceedings.

LN/DS