DUSHANBE, November 28, 2008, Asia-Plus – On November 27, Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco) withdrew its claim against Ansol, company controlled by Avaz Nazarov, a Tajik national who lives in London.
In a statement released yesterday, Talco said that both parties had reached a settlement and that proceedings in the High Court in London had been terminated with no admission of liability by either side.
Representative of Ansol also confirmed this information in an interview with Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, representative of Talco noted that special official statement for media would be released in the near future.
In the meantime, Times Online reported that one of the most expensive lawsuits in British history settled on November 27 after three years of bitter accusations and tens of millions of pounds spent on legal fees.
As it had been reported earlier, the months-long trial over alleged corruption and bribery at the Tajik aluminum smelter resumed in the High Court in London on October 27.
According to Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco), Sadriddin Sharipov, director general of Talco, Murodali Alimardon, deputy prime minister also fomer head of Tajik central bank, and Hasan Asadullozoda, head of Orienbonk, attended the trial.
Talco claimed the former director of the smelter, Abduqodir Ermatov, had accepted lavish bribes from its main supplier of alumina.
The October 28 Financial Times’ item “Tajikistan smelter case adds to Deripaska woes” noted that Mr. Ermatov was accused of receiving about $15 million (£10m) in benefits for entering into allegedly inflated contracts with companies controlled by Avaz Nazarov, a Tajik national who lives in London and still ranks as one of Central Asia’s richest men. Mr. Ermatov, Mr. Nazarov and several other defendants denied wrongdoing and pursued their own multi-million pound counterclaim.
The Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska faces fresh scrutiny about his company’s role in an alleged $500 million fraud in Tajikistan, according to The Financial Times. “The aluminum group controlled by Mr. Deripaska, was accused in the High Court of knowingly participating in a “grubby” scheme that allegedly divested Tajikistan’s most important industrial asset – a state-owned smelter not far from the country’s capital – of hundreds of millions of dollars. Lawyers representing Talco characterized Rusal and Mr. Deripaska as important players in the alleged conspiracy.”
The Financial Times reported in May that the dispute was already one of the most expensive cases ever litigated in the UK, with the total legal bill estimated at more than £90m, or nearly 5 per cent of Tajikistan’s 2007 gross domestic product.
