Our practice of dispute resolution is focused on the support for complex disputes in Russia and cross-border proceedings. This experience allows us to find unique solutions using the legal tools in different jurisdictions: litigation at courts with a focus on complex disputes being conducted in multiple concurrent jurisdictions; protecting clients' property interests, including at the early stages of proceedings by means of provisional remedies.
From the very beginning of the project work we analyze in detail all key aspects of a disputable situation, in particular:
What jurisdictions are involved or may be involved in a conflict
Availability of the opponent's property on which it is possible to impose provisional remedies or the levy of execution
A team personnel of legal consultants for foreign jurisdictions (if necessary) and experts
Priorities of work taking into account the objective and terms to be achieved
In some cases it is reasonable to initiate one or multiple ancillary proceedings in order to get evidence or preserve the status quo for the duration of the dispute.
Defending the client from claims filed by a number of offshore companies on the recovery from the Bank of payments under bank guarantees.
Situation:
Five companies registered in the BVI filed claims against the Bank seeking to recover debt under bank guarantees.
We were required to perform a legal investigation into the circumstances of issuance of the respective bank guarantees, as well as analyse and offer our recommendations for a series of cases on the bankruptcy of the Bank’s corporate and individual debtors.
The disputes were heard by the commercial courts of the North-Western District and the Russian Supreme Court.
The case was included in the Review of Court Practice of Resolution of Disputes Related to the Application of the Laws on Independent Guarantees, approved by the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court, as well as in the Review of Court Practice on Separate Matters Related to Court-Appointed Measures to Combat Unlawful Financial Operations, also approved by the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court.
Result:
The Firm’s lawyers: 1) prepared the legal case to invalidate the bank guarantees; 2) submitted evidence of affiliation of the claimants and the principals under the guarantees with the Bank to prove collusion between the Bank’s managers and abuse of right in the issuance of the guarantees; 3) collected evidence of the insufficiency of the Bank’s property and existence of creditors at the time when the guarantees were issued, to prove their invalidity; 4) performed a legal investigation, identifying schemes to siphon off and withdraw cash using the bank guarantees, fictitious funding and other financial instruments. A criminal case has been opened in this regard.
At present, the cassation court has ruled in favour of the Bank in two cases, satisfying the Bank’s counterclaim and declaring the bank guarantees invalid.