RusAl Claims $275 Million Tajik Victory At Swiss Tribunal

Russian aluminum giant RusAl has won $275 million in damages from the Tajik Aluminum Company (TalCo).

RusAl said on October 17 that a Swiss tribunal had found TalCo in breach of two 2003 agreements with RusAl subsidiary Hamer Investing.

Under those agreements, Hamer had supplied TalCo with raw materials for which the state-run Tajik company had failed to pay.

The tribunal ordered TalCo to pay damages in excess of $112 million, approximately $147 million in interest, and almost $15 million in legal fees.

The statement also said the tribunal had thrown out TalCo's $400 million counterclaim, in which the company argued that Hamer's original contracts should be deemed invalid as they had been won by corrupt means.

A spokesman for TalCo, the largest aluminum smelter in Central Asia, said that it could appeal the Swiss tribunal's ruling.

Based on reporting by Asiaplus.tj and Eurasianet.org