More from the Prague Monitor
Prague - The arbitration tribunal at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris closed a dispute between the Czech Republic and the steel group ArcelorMittal Wednesday. The court dismissed all claims by ArcelorMittal and ordered the plaintiff to pay all legal costs incurred by the Czech state, worth EUR 500,000.
ArcelorMittal sought CZK 5.79 billion as a compensation for a 14% stake in the largest Czech steelworks ArcelorMittal Ostrava (former Nová Huť) for which it received an option during the privatisation of the steelworks. Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek now says Wednesday's verdict closed the dispute for good.
"In the worst case, the Czech Republic may have paid almost CZK 11.6 billion for the same 14% share in Nová Huť," said Ondřej Jakob, spokesman for the Finance Ministry. "It is now clear that the Czech Republic will not pay a single crown," he added.
Jakob referred to the fact that another company, Petrcíle, sued the state over the same stake, asking for the same compensation. An arbitration court dismissed Petrcíle's claim in January, but ruled that the Czech government must sell the stake to Petrcíle for CZK 850 million.
"Without this obligation, we would have to sell the stake to Arcelor for CZK 57 million. But we couldn't do that, and Mittal's lawsuit turned out to be a failure," Kalousek said Wednesday, according to the FinančníNoviny.cz news site.
A parallel lawsuit filed by ArcelorMittal at the London-based BIT arbitration, in which ArcelorMittal quotes the Czech-Dutch agreement on investment protection, has been suspended since November.
"Talks to find a compromise solution are under way, but the Czech position has improved after today's verdict," Jakob said Wednesday.
Adapted and republished by the Prague Daily Monitor.
