LAWFIRM.ru

06 October 2008

Franz Sedelmayer, the German security consultant who has waged a one-man crusade against Russia over an unpaid award, may soon collect US$6.6 million via auction.

On 30 September a court in Cologne ruled that Russian-owned premises in the city will be auctioned to pay off the debt. The first of three apartment buildings belonging to the former Soviet trade mission and KGB outpost will go under the hammer on 17 December, the court said.
The government expropriated Sedelmeyer's security business on Kamenny Ostrov, an island in St Petersburg, in 1995, after he resisted a presidential decree from Boris Yeltsin. Armed troops were sent to seize its headquarters.
Sedelmayer was later denied re-entrance into the country.
In 1998, Sedelmayer won US$2.3 million damages following a Stockholm Chamber of Commerce claim under the German-Russian bilateral investment treaty. The award remains unpaid and is now worth US$6.6 million.
The case drew wider attention when Sedelmayer began using creative attempts to enforce his debt, including laying claim to VAT rebates paid by the German government to the Russian embassy in Berlin, and money Lufthansa owed to Russia for overflying state territory.
The German courts rejected both claims.
Sedelmayer also brought bailiffs to impound Russian goods at a trade show where President Vladimir Putin was present, and attempted to seize Russian planes at an airshow in Hanover.
He identified the Soviet apartment buildings in Cologne as a possible enforcement target following a tip-off many years ago, but had to wait until they were reregistered in the Russian Federation's name before starting proceedings.
The buildings now house Russian refugees. The Cologne court gave Sedelmayer rent-collection rights in 2006.
Enforcing an award against Russia is famously difficult. Dominic Pellew of Lovells CIS in Moscow says difficulties include identifying assets that are owned by the state and not some distinct state-owned entity; defeating sovereign immunity arguments; and overcoming political pressure in the enforcing country linked to fears of offending Russia.
Sedelmayer, who now runs an asset recovery business in Chicago, told Global Arbitration Review that he is hopeful the sale of the buildings will cover both his award debt and the cost of his enforcement attempts.
He plans to continue claims begun at the European Court of Human Rights and the Swedish courts in connection with the enforcement, because they may set important precedents for others.
It is unclear whether Russia will challenge the Cologne court's decision before the auction takes place. Sedelmayer reports that he has received approaches from third parties offering to buy the debt.
He says that the decade long war-of-attrition has been worthwhile - despite alleged threats to his wife and the launch of a Russian money-laundering probe against him.
"They tried every trick to thwart me, but a building can't run away," he told a Wall Street Journal reporter.
AR

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http://www.arbitrations.ru

На сайте Кельнского окружного суда есть решение

Stachus, не нашел решения на сайте суда. если есть скиньте на disputesupdate (at) gmail.com

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http://www.arbitrations.ru

Да, точно, че-та оно делось куда-то. Ну лана, нет таких крепостей, которых не взяли большевики. Номер решения 22 U 98/07. Пойдете вот по этой ссылочке http://www.justiz.nrw.de/ses/nrwesearch.php, а там в результатах поиска кликните nrwe/olgs/koeln/j2008/22_U_98_07urteil20080318.html, сверху в центре страницы. Сорри, что все через одно место, просто не копируется.

Stachus, спасибо за ссылки. номер решения 3 0 7/07.
кому интересно, решение выложил на http://www.idispute.ru/index.php?act=pages&page_id=7

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http://www.arbitrations.ru

Ром, спасип, забавная история.

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Regards! Собственной персоной www.ZAKON1.ru