The federal government is seeking out all avenues that Pakistan is granted a stay on enforcement of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Award, during the pendency of the annulment proceedings, said the statement issued by AGP Office on Tuesday.
Last week a delegation led by the Attorney-General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan traveled to London, in order to prepare in advance for Pakistan's submissions for the hearing on stay on enforcement, with foreign legal counsel.
The Office of the Attorney-General for Pakistan on 8th November 2019 filed a Request for Annulment as the first step to annul the Final Award rendered by the ICSID on July 12, 2019, in the matter of Tethyan Copper Company Limited ("TCCA") vs Pakistan.
Alongside the Request for Annulment, Pakistan also requested a provisional stay on enforcement of the award, which was granted on 18 November 2019.
Presently, the ICSID Award is stayed.
This means that the TCCA is not allowed to pursue any ongoing enforcement proceedings or initiate new ones.
The ICSID Secretariat will now notify the tribunal for the annulment phase of the proceedings and subsequently decide on the question of stay on enforcement.
The ICSID Secretariat retains the formal prerogative as to when to notify the tribunal.
On February 26, during an interaction with the members of the Press Association of Supreme Court (PAS), the AGP Khalid said if Pakistan loses this case then it will have serious implication for Pakistan's economy and its assets abroad could be attached.
"I will try to control the damage from the Reko Diq case." The World Bank's ICSID on July 13, 2019, announced a 700-page judgment regarding $5.976 billion (Rs 944.21 billion) award against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case.
The ICSID award include a $4.08 billion penalty and $1.87 billion in interest to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a joint venture between Chile's Antofagasta Plc and Canada's Barrick Gold, the Chilean miner.
In 2012, the TCC filed claims for international arbitration before the ICSID of the World Bank after the Balochistan government turned down a leasing request from the company.
The litigation continued for seven years. The then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the Maulana Abdul Haque v Government of Balochistan held that the 'Chagai Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement' (CHEJVA) signed between the Balochistan Development Authority ('BDA') and Broken Hill Properties Minerals Intermediate Exploration Inc. (BHP) in 1993 was void ab initio.
The CHEJVA granted exploration and mining licenses to BHP in the Reko Diq area, which is located in the Chagai District of Balochistan.
Public concern regarding CHEJVA increased in subsequent years as amendments were made to the agreement, leading to the involvement of the Balochistan High Court and the SC in the matter.
The Balochistan High Court validated the agreement, but this ruling was reversed by the SC. Aggrieved by this decision, the foreign companies that were party to the litigation referred the dispute to the ICSID for arbitration, which ruled against Pakistan in 2017, but until now had yet to determine the damages owed to Tethyan.
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