A US court has denied a motion filed by Argentina against the Titan Consortium investment fund and has ruled that the country must pay more than US$300 million over the controversial nationalisation of state carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas.
The 2008 takeover of the airline by then former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's government penalised the Spanish group Marsans, which then owned it.
Following a long drawn-out legal battle, which has seen the Spanish firm's claim pass into investors' hands, Argentina now faces coughing up a substantial amount of money in compensation.
"The court denies the motion to dismiss by Argentina" as it deems the 12-year statute of limitations applies under substantive law, ruled the US court, based in Washington DC.
The State took over Aerolíneas Argentinas, then owned by Marsans, with just a symbolic payment.
Marsans later filed a complaint to the ICSID International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which depends on the World Bank.
It later transferred the suit to investment fund Burford Capital, which in turn assigned all rights and profits to Titan Consortium.
In 2017, the ICSID issued an award ordering Argentina to pay over US$320 million by way of compensation and nearly US$3.5 million in legal fees, plus interest, until the amount is paid in full.
Argentina filed a motion to dismiss the award, but it was denied in 2019.
After that denial, Argentina was ordered to pay over US$1 million more in costs and representation expenses.
In 2021, the fund Titan Consortium sued Argentina to enforce the payment, but the country filed a motion to dismiss the suit as it considered that it was time barred.
In its Monday ruling, the DC court deemed that Argentina’s arguments in favour of shorter limitation periods “are not convincing."
"Argentina attempted to dismiss the suit because it was time barred, but the lack of a statute of limitations set forth in Section 1650a complicates matters a little. Argentina argues that the applicable limitation period is three years (as per the Federal Arbitration Act or D.C. Law), which would make Titan’s claim extemporaneous," the document reads.
Titan objects to this, arguing that “the applicable limitation period is twelve years, in accordance with D.C. Code 15-101, which governs the enforcement of rulings delivered by District of Columbia courts."
Given these opposing positions and, “upon reviewing the small set of viable options, the Court concludes that the limitation period is twelve years and, therefore, Titan’s suit is timely filed “.
“Therefore, the Court denies the motion to dismiss filed by Argentina,” the court concluded.
– TIMES/PERFIL/AFP
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