Pakistan and Turkish firm M/s Karkey Karadeniz Electric Uretim which established a 231MW rental power offshore at Karachi are reportedly engaged in out-of-court settlement, well informed official sources told Business Recorder. Pakistan recently paid 2.38 million pound (Rs 266 million) to a British law firm M/s Allen & Overy which allegedly refused to appear in International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) until payment was cleared from Secretary Finance, Dr Waqar Masood who directed Additional Secretary to clear the payment on his behalf.
According to sources, Federal Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Asif and Attorney General for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt recently visited UK wherein they discussed possibilities of out of court settlement with a law team of Turkish firm. However, details of discussion were not shared with Business Recorder. This issue of M/s Karkey was also discussed during the recent visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the bilateral issues between the two countries are always discussed at higher levels. M/s Karkey had filed damage claim of $2.1 billion
"The issue of M/s Karkey is now being dealt with by Attorney General who is in contact with the lawyers of M/s Karkey," the sources added. M/s Karkey''s power ship has already left the Pakistan waters with the intervention of ICSID. Government officials are of the view that if the Turkish firm wins the case, Pakistan will have to pay heavy damages and in case Pakistan does not implement the decision, the World Bank can stop its funding.
Last year, Pakistan had hired Allen & Overy, a global law firm advising national and multinational corporations, financial institutions, and governments. Pakistan was to pay 90,000 pounds to Allen & Overy in addition to per hour rate during hearings. Earlier, Pakistan paid 0.2 million pounds to a London-based firm BLP but the government felt that the case was not properly contested at the ICSID. Total fee agreed with the law firm was 1.4 million pounds in addition to case charges per hour.
The Turkish energy firm, Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim AS (Karkey), had registered a claim with the World Bank-affiliated ICSID against the Government of Pakistan early in 2013. The initial contract value of Karkey''s power ship operations in Pakistan was $560 million for the duration of five years. The claims, as calculated by experts, sum up the damages obtained as a result of the loss of earnings and costs associated with the detention of its vessels which was detained in Pakistan in April 2012.
Turkish government also took up this issue with Pakistani authorities during bilateral visits of Prime Ministers of the two countries. Pakistani authorities detained power vessels on the instructions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. However, later on the Supreme Court allowed the ship to leave for Dubai. NAB had arrested former acting Managing Director of Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) N. A. Zuberi in Karkey Rental Power Plant scam. As he came out of jail on bail, his position had already been given to another official.
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