Greece’s Mytilineos requiring another USD 60 million from Serbia

In addition to the amount of USD 40 million, which Serbia is to pay to Mytilineos in installments, the company has filed another, bigger repayment request to the court of Athens, Politika reports.

Even if Serbia pays the amount of USD 40 million in full, the country will still have obligations towards this Greek company. As can be seen from the reports of the Anti-Corruption Council, published on January 25, 2018, in addition to the arbitration in Geneva, a process that Serbia has lost, there is another court dispute currently in progress.

Mytilineos sued RTB Bor at the first-instance court in Athens, requiring USD 60 million in damages, as the company failed to adhere to three contracts signed in the send half of the 1990s, Politika reports.

As said in the Council’s report, the procedure is in its initial stages, and the hearing is scheduled for February 21, 2019.

– The question of how the binding verdict at the arbitration procedure will reflect on the dispute between RTB Bor and the Greek company is especially important – the Council warns.

The basis for Mytilineos’ suit against Serbia and RTB Bor is the agreement signed between the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Government of the Republic of Greece on mutual incentive and protection of investments, signed on June 25, 1997. The Council complains that they haven’t been sent the verdict of the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva by the General Attorney’s Office, with the explanation that it is confidential.

– The Council believes that Serbia stands to incur no damage if the verdict from the arbitration is published and that the lack of transparency of the verdict is directed not at confidentiality as means of preventing damage, as the verdict has already been reached, but in order to obscure how and why the procedure occurred – the report says.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Savet za borbu protiv korupcije Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

RTB Bor

Anti Corruption Council

General Attorneys Office

Governemnt of Serbia

Ministry of FInance

Ministry of Economy

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Mytilineos

Arbitration Court in Geneva