New Delhi: The government on Tuesday confirmed that a French court had ordered certain Indian assets in Paris in Petition with British Cairn energy, which tried to recover USD 1.72 billion from New Delhi after winning the arbitration against retro tax.
The State Minister for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply on a question at Rajya Sabha said the government had appealed the International Arbitration Court which canceled RS 10,247 crore retribution on Cairn tax.
“Yes, the sir, the order has been passed by the French court which freezes the properties of certain Indian government in this case related to Cairn energy,” he said.
While the minister did not identify property, PTI earlier this month reported that the 20-odd property located in the city center mostly consisted of flats, worth more than EUR 20 million.
The French court, Judiceiae de Paris court, on June 11 agreed to the Cairn application to freeze (through a judicial mortgage) of housing real estate owned by the Indian government in Paris Center.
Legal formalities for the same thing completed earlier this month.
The International Arbitration Court of three members consisting of a judge appointed by India, in December last year unanimously canceled tax retribution in Cairn retrospectively and ordered the return of shares sold, dividends were confiscated and a tax return was cut to restore the request.
“The tribunal arbitration (which has his seat in Hague) says awards on December 21, 2020 which supports Cairn Energy PLC and Cairn UK Holdings Ltd (CUHL),” Chaudhary said.
The government has not received the award and has submitted a ‘setting aside’ in court in the Netherlands – Arbitration chair.
“Appeal against the award has been submitted at the Den Haag Appeal Court on March 22, 2021,” he said.
In the action that began to protect the interests of the country, he said an international law firm, with relevant experience, has been involved to deal with the law enforcement process.
“In consultation with his advice team, the government takes all the appropriate legal steps to protect their interests,” he said without giving details.
With its shareholders – which includes Biggies from the global financial world – Egegis to get money back, Cairn has received a registered arbitration award in countries such as the US, Britain, Canada, Singapore, Mauritius, France and the Netherlands.
Since then it has begun to look for law enforcement.
It has identified USD 70 billion in Indian assets abroad for potential foreclosures to gather awards, which is now the total to USD 1.72 billion after entering interest and penalty.
Last month, Cairn brought a lawsuit at the US District Court for the South District of New York pleading that Air India was very controlled by the Indian government so that they ‘changed the ego’ and the airline must be responsible for the arbitration award.
Similar demands are likely to be brought to other countries, especially with high-value assets.
The Scottish company invested in the oil and gas sector in India in 1994 and a decade later made large oil discoveries in Rajasthan.
In 2006 it included Indian assets in BSE.
Five years after that the government passed the retroactive tax law and Cairn which was billed by Rs 10,247 Crore plus interest and penalty for reorganization related to flotation.
The government then took over and liquidated the remaining shares in Cairn in Indian entities, captured dividends and held back tax returns to restore part of the request.
Cairn challenges the move before the Arbitration Court in the Hague, which in December was given USD 1.2 billion (more than RS 8,800 Crore) plus costs and interest, which totaled USD 1.725 million (Rs 12,600 Crore) in December 2020.