Summary

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Case report (free download)

Case Report by Djurdja Lazic, Editor Diego Luis Alonso Massa

Summary

The High Court of Justice declined Claimants' request to dismiss Kazakhstan's petition to amend its original application to set aside an arbitral award on the basis that the award would contravene English public policy by reason of alleged fraud discovered after the issuance of the award. The High Court ruled that prior decisions by Swedish and the U.S. courts dismissing the State's application to set aside the award did not create an estoppel, that the State could rely on evidence obtained after the award was issued to prove its claim of fraud, and that there is sufficient prima facie evidence that the award was obtained by fraud. The Court concluded that the interests of justice required that the fraud allegations, including the effect of the fraud, be examined at a trial and be decided on their merits.

Main issues

Estoppel; Registration and Enforcement of an Award under the Arbitration Act of 1966; New York Convention; Public Policy; Energy Charter Treaty.

Stati & Ors v The Republic of Kazakhstan [2017] EWHC 1348 (Comm) (06 June 2017)

Case report provided by International Arbitration Case Law (IACL)