The Hungarian oil and gas company Mol has unexpectedly, and without any explanation, withdrawn its lawsuit against Croatia filed with a Washington district court, reported the Wednesday issue of the Vecernji List daily.
The Hungarian company had in 2017 asked the US court to recognise and accept a ruling by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in Geneva which in 2016 ruled in favour of Mol and against Croatia.
The lawsuit in Geneva was launched in 2014 by Croatia’s then coalition government led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, in response to an arbitration lawsuit Mol had filed against Croatia before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington in 2013.
In the 2013 lawsuit, Mol had claimed that Croatia had violated some of its obligations from the 2009 contracts on Mol’s management in the Croatian Ina oil and gas company, under which Zagreb had committed to buy the total of Ina domestic gas production at market prices over the period of 15 years. Mol claims that Croatia did not honour those obligations, which had resulted in the company suffering losses of some 2 billion kuna (€269 million). The proceedings are still ongoing.
Croatia requested in 2014 that the arbitration commission annul the 2009 contracts, which were signed while the Prime Minister of Croatia was Ivo Sanader, on the grounds that corruption took place during the process.
Sanader is currently on trial, on suspicion of taking a €10 million bribe from the Mol CEO, Zsolt Hernadi, to grant Mol the management rights of Ina. Both Sanader and Mol have repeatedly denied any allegations of bribery.
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The 2016 final arbitration ruling in Geneva had said that Croatia did not provide sufficient evidence that corruption took place during the process, after which Croatia announced intention to buy back Mol’s 47 percent stake at Ina. The price was not agreed to date.
According to documents from the Washington district court, Mol asked that the United States confirm, recognise and apply the 2016 ruling, which would mean that the US judiciary would treat the ruling as if it had been reached by a US court, and its enforcement subject to US laws.
Croatia was given until September 28 to prepare for the case, but on September 24, five days before the deadline, the court said that the plaintiff had voluntarily withdrawn the complaint.
Mol officials refused to comment on the withdrawal, Vecernji List reported.
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