A French court has permitted Britain’s Cairn Energy Plc to freeze several India-owned assets in Paris in order to settle the international arbitration order. Following the order, the company reportedly has seized 20 Indian government properties.
The move comes as the latest attempt to force India to pay $1.2 bn in damages plus interest and costs awarded by an International Tribunal over a tax dispute.
The company will effectively transfer the ownership of the 20 properties valued at more than 20 million euros, including those in the 16th arrondissement in Paris. The official documents stating Frech court has authorized the freeze have been confirmed by Financial Times.
On June 11, a Frech Court, Tribunal judiciaire de Paris granted Cairn’s request to freeze residential property owned by the Government of India in central Paris. People with direct knowledge of the matter has said that the legal formalities were complete by Wednesday evening.
Cairn Energy has stated the freeze order to be needed and said it was a “necessary preparatory step to taking ownership of the properties and ensures that the proceeds of any sales would be due to Cairn”
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The oil company previously stated that it had identified $70 billion of Indian government-owned properties throughout the world, ranging from buildings to Air India planes, which it planned to seize if the arbitration award was not honoured.
The Indian officials residing in those properties are unlikely to be evicted by Cairn. However, with the court order, the government is unable to sell them.
By adding interest and cost the arbitration award sums up to $1.7 billion by the end of 2020. The Indian government has appealed against the award, meanwhile, Cairn has approached courts in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Singapore, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Cayman Islands to have the case registered and recognized.