PODGORICA (Montenegro), January 13 (SeeNews) – Montenegro's government said on Friday that the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) arbitration tribunal dismissed all claims of Cyprus-based Central European Aluminum Company (CEAC) against the country.
The decision finally confirms that Montenegro has not breached the settlement agreement, but on the contrary, it is precisely the CEAC that has violated its obligations under the contract, the government said in a statement.
In its ruling the arbitral tribunal states that the CEAC is obliged to pay 259,000 euro to Montenegro for breaching investment obligations and another 29,000 euro for breaching the obligation to submit an annual investment report, the government said.
CEAC filed for the arbitration proceedings in November 2013 in a dispute with the Montenegrin government over investments made in aluminium smelter Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP).
The Cyprus-registered company had already sought arbitration against Montenegro before the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) but the court declined to rule on the case July 2016.
CEAC was established in 2005 to manage the aluminium business interests of Russia's En+ Group, owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in Central and Eastern Europe.