Swedish Court of Appeal rejects Deripaska’s lawsuit against Montenegro for €600 million

The Court of Appeal in Sweden sided with Montenegro in a dispute with Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska. In 2016, the entrepreneur demanded that €600 million be returned to him for lost investments in the Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica aluminum plant. The court in Stockholm in 2019 ruled in favor of Montenegro.

Mr. Deripaska at the beginning of 2020 filed a lawsuit with the Swedish Court of Appeal to change the arbitral award of 2016. “After assessing the legality of the decision, the Court of Appeal accepted the arguments of our country and ruled in favor of Montenegro,” the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro said in a statement (cited by the Montenegrin agency DAN). In addition, Mr. Deripaska was ordered to reimburse the costs of office work – € 628.5 thousand and $ 86.1 thousand.

Mr. Deripaska acquired a controlling interest in Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica and Niksic Bauxite Mine in 2005 (the assets were managed by En+ Group’s Cypriot Central European Aluminum Company). In 2013, Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica was declared bankrupt at the initiative of the government, the company was sold for €29 million. Its debt was estimated at about €350 million, half of which fell on En + structures.

Oleg Deripaska accused Montenegro of expropriating his assets. However, the International Court of Arbitration in Stockholm stood on the side Podgorica, believing that the investment protection agreement concluded by the governments of the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is not applicable to Montenegro. Then the court ordered Mr. Deripaska to compensate legal expenses for €1.6 million.

Leonid Uvarchev