Ch-aviation | 4 January 2021

Pakistan’s PIA faces asset grab in British Virgin Islands

PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int’l) could see its assets attached by the High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands, where it is incorporated, over a longstanding dispute between its shareholder, the Pakistan state, and gold and copper exploration giant Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).

TCC has asked the High Court to enforce a USD5.97 billion award against Pakistan by the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitral tribunal granted on July 12, 2019. The settlement award related to the Pakistan Province of Balochistan in 2011 having refused TCC a mining lease for the development of a USD3.3 billion copper-gold mine at Reko Diq in Balochistan. This resulted in TCC filing a case against Pakistan with the ICSID in 2012.

The enforcement of the award was provisionally stayed in September 2019, which was again extended on September 17, 2020, after the Pakistan government had applied for its annulment.

In a statement in December 2020, the office of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) confirmed that TCC had initiated proceedings for the enforcement of the award before the High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands and that TCC sought the attachment of certain assets belonging to Pakistani institutions.

The AGP said the Pakistan government would “vigorously” contest proceedings in any jurisdiction and protect national assets “wherever they may be located”, but that the government aimed to settle the matter amicably.

The ICSID was still considering Pakistan’s appeal against the penalty and a final hearing would take place in May 2021, Pakistan media reported.

TCC is a 50/50 joint venture of Barrick Gold Corporation of Australia and Antofagasta PLC of Chile.