Reko Diq case: BVI high court decision ‘big victory’ of Pakistan's stance, says govt

Law Minister Farogh Naseem has termed the British Virgin Island Court's judgment in Reko Diq case a ‘big victory’ of Pakistan's stance.

Addressing media persons on Wednesday, the minister said that the decision will also provide economic relief to the country.

The statement comes after the High Court in the British Virgin Islands has unfrozen the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) assets abroad in the Reko Diq case.

Farogh Naseem said the court has accepted Pakistan's sovereign immunity stance in the case.

The Law Minister recalled that back in July 2019, the international arbitration tribunal of the World Bank’s Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) had announced a huge award of $5.976 billion against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case.

The management of the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) had claimed $11.43bn in damages from Pakistan. The company had filed claims for international arbitration before the ICSID in 2012.

At the same time, the country was facing many other disputes at the international level including that of Karkey and the Broadcast sheet, he said.

Naseem informed that legal teams were constituted to effectively and forcefully present Pakistan's stance in those cases. He said those timely steps have now started showing results.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) called the British Virgin Island court decision a ‘great legal victory for Pakistan.’

"The order was passed earlier on the request of TCC which was seeking enforcement of the Reko Diq award. All orders passed against PIA earlier are now recalled by the Court. Receiver removed from Roosevelt hotel, NY and Scribe Hotel, Paris. Cost of litigation also awarded," said a statement issued by the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) office on Tuesday.

In December last year, Justice Gerhard Wallbank of the BVI High Court had attached certain assets of PIA in the Reko Diq case. Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, New York, and Scribe Hotel in Central Paris were attached to the case by the court which meant PIA could not sell the two hotels.

Meanwhile, PIA described the order as a major win for Pakistan. "Justice prevails! By the grace of Allah and with the prayers of all our countrymen, courts in BVI decide in favor of PIA, releasing all hard-earned assets i.e., Roosevelt NYC & Scribe Paris. Great victory for PIA and Pakistan. We won this together," the national carrier said.

However, despite the release of the PIA's assets in the case by the BVI court, a $6 billion penalty against Pakistan will still be intact.