Devas Multimedia says it will continue to seek forfeiture of India’s overseas assets
New Delhi:
Not worried about the Supreme Court continuing to announce the cancellation of the contract with the company, the shareholders of Devas Multimedia will continue to seek to seize the assets of the Indian government abroad to collect 1.2 billion. dollars the company has been awarded by the arbitration committee to cancel a satellite agreement but is still willing to negotiate with a settlement, their attorneys said.
Matthew D McGill, partner at Gibson, Dunn, said: “The Supreme Court decision doesn’t change anything. The Modi government and the Indian courts cannot rewrite the facts. & Crutcher, and main advisor to several Devas shareholders.
“A better approach for the Modi government is to return to the negotiating table and resume settlement negotiations.” Devas shareholders are pursuing Indian assets abroad to recover the award and have obtained a French court order to freeze Indian assets in Paris and have partial rights to the payments. funds maintained by the Indian foundation in Canada.
A spokesperson for Devas Multimedia said: “We have executed arrest warrants and sanctioned tens of millions of dollars in Indian state assets. “We will continue to identify and seize state assets wherever we find them until India’s willingness to return to the negotiating table.” The Indian government has secured a freeze on a Paris property, it has obtained a Canadian court order to seize about $23 million that Air India has with IATA, the spokesperson said.
Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government would use a Supreme Court ruling calling the 2005 Antrix-Devas deal a fraud to fight the misappropriation of its assets abroad.
“The Modi government’s strategy is not rocket science. They will use the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the NCLT liquidation order to attack Devas, globally, however, we are ready to go. Courts around the world will review these sham proceedings,” the spokesperson said.
Antrix Corporation, the government-owned commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has signed an agreement with Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia to lease for 12 years 90% of the transponder space. on two satellites, G-SAT6 and G-SAT6A have not yet been launched.
Of the 150 MHz of space that ISRO owns in the S-band spectrum, Devas is allowed to use 70 MHz to launch satellite-based applications on mobile devices. Devas, which has several former ISRO scientists on its top management, is expected to pay $300 million to Antrix over a 12-year period.
The deal was dropped in 2011 after accusations it was a professional “lover agreement”. In 2014, the CBI and the Director of Enforcement were asked to investigate the transaction.
Last year, Antrix approached the National Company Law Court (NCLT) seeking to liquidate Devas. NCLT ordered the liquidation of Devas when it observed that the company appeared to have been associated with fraudulent intent. Devas appealed that before the NCLAT in September 2021 upholding the liquidation. Devas filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, which last week upheld the NCLAT order on the liquidation.
Devas Multimedia initiated arbitration against the 2005 annulment at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Two separate arbitrations were also initiated under a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) by Mauritius investors in Devas Multimedia under India-Mauritius BIT and Deutsche Telekom – a German company – under India Germany BIT. India lost all three disputes.
Ms. Sitharaman said last week the trade terminal bonus of $1 billion while $93.3 million plus costs and interest was awarded to India under arbitration given according to India Germany BIT, Ms. Sitharaman said last week. Approximately $111.2 million plus costs and interest was awarded in arbitration under Mauritius BIT of India.
She accused the then Congress-led UPA government of making a “fraudulent arrangement” and allocating the rare S-band spectrum to a “pittance”.
Asked if Devas shareholders were not following the success scenario of Britain’s Cairn Energy, the company identified $70 billion in Indian assets abroad and began foreclosures in July 2021 starting led with the same government property in Paris and targeted Air India to recover $1.2 billion for which an international arbitrator, a Devas spokesman, said Cairn’s case had nothing to do with Devas.
“The Cairn case has nothing to do with Devas. Cairn has waived its challenges as part of its settlement with the government. Devas shareholders will continue to enforce the arbitral awards until such time as the arbitrator’s decisions are made. they are paid.The Modi government wisely settled with Cairn as it was, the spokesman said, it would be futile to continue to evade the arbitral awards that had been upheld in all cases.
The government last August enacted a new law that abolished all tax arrears claims against companies like Cairn Energy and agreed to refund the proceeds to enforce that claim. Cairn is refunded Rs 7,900 crore afterwards.
A spokesperson for Devas said they can register the arbitral awards they have anywhere around the globe.
