ACI Partners and DLA Piper have successfully persuaded the Court of Appeal of Paris to annul an October 25, 2013 arbitral award by the ICC in the matter of Energoalians v. Republic of Moldova in what ACI refers to as "highly important litigation for Moldova."
The dispute dates back to 2010, when Energoalians — a Ukrainian company — brought claims against Moldova arising out of the non-payment of accumulated debt by the State-owned entity Moldtranselectro and by another former partner of Energoalians for energy Energoalians supplied in 1999-2000. In its decision of October 25, 2013, the International Court of Arbitration in Paris ruled that Moldova must pay Energoalians USD 47 million (in 2015 Moldova was ordered to pay Komstroy, the legal successor to Energoalians).
According to ACI Partners, "this arbitral award had a drastic effect on the Moldovan state-owned company MoldATSA — the bank accounts of which were blocked starting from April, 2015 in lieu of execution of the said arbitral award. MoldATSA is responsible for directing airplanes in Moldovan airspace and hampering its operations thus endangered air traffic security in Moldova."
ACI Partners describes the Paris Court of Appeals’ decision to annul the October 15, 2013 arbitral award as "an important win for the Republic of Moldova.”
The ACI Partners team consisted of Managing Partner Igor Odobescu and Legal Manager Carolina Parcalab, while DLA Piper’s Paris-based team was led by Partner Michael Ostrove, DLA Piper’s Global Head of International Arbitration, and included Associate Theobald Naud.
A consideration of the significance of this case in Moldova will appear in the April 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.
