Croatia has lost the arbitration proceedings regarding INA initiated by MOL, in a dispute where MOL claimed that the government did not fulfill its obligations under the gas business contract, reports Hina.
According to unofficial information, Croatia must pay between 250 and 300 million dollars due to the lost dispute, including interest, and Croatian objections regarding corruption during MOL’s purchase of INA from the Croatian state have also been dismissed.
The dispute was conducted at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington (ICSID).
The proceedings were initiated by MOL in 2013, claiming that Croatia did not comply with the obligations under the main gas business contract and its annexes.
According to the 2009 contract, it was stipulated that a part (unprofitable) of the gas business would be separated from INA so that the state would take over the underground gas storage in Okoli, which it did, but it did not take over the gas trading, and this was the basis for MOL’s lawsuit.
This is the second arbitration that Croatia has lost to MOL. The first was conducted before the UN Commission on International Trade Law during the government of then Prime Minister Zoran Milanović.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced at the end of 2016 that Croatia would begin the repurchase of MOL’s stake in INA. This process is still ongoing.
