Kazakhstan Won Another Case Against World Wide Minerals

On November 23, the High Court of Justice in England overturned the arbitral award in the suit of the Canadian company World Wide Minerals and Paul A. Carroll, the company’s president and CEO against the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstani Ministry of Justice reported.

On October 29 last year, the arbitration tribunal decided Kazakhstan should pay the plaintiffs $1.9 billion as compensation for their damages. This is less than 1% of the total amount of the claim by WWM and Mr. Carroll. However, the following month Kazakhstan applied to the High Court of England to appeal the decision.

On Monday this week, the court agreed with the arguments of Kazakhstan and canceled the decision regarding the amount of compensation to be paid to the plaintiffs. This issue was sent back to the arbitration tribunal for further consideration.

Moreover, under the High Court decision, World Wide Minerals and Paul Carroll should pay Kazakhstan $350,000 as reimbursement for legal costs. The court will determine other costs of the case later.

As Kursiv previously reported, the conflict between WWM and Kazakhstan has lasted since 1997. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice estimates that the process could take up to two years.