INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Devas seeks an enforcement of $1.2 billion arbitration awardDevas Multimedia Pvt., a company seeking over $1.2 billion it won in
international arbitration from India, has joined Cairn Energy Plc in seeking to seize Air India Ltd.'s assets abroad.Calling the flagship
airline an "alter ego" of the Indian state and therefore liable for the sovereign's debts, Devas filed a petition in New York asking Air
India to pay the amount or forfeit its U.S
property including planes, cargo handling equipment and artwork.The move may threaten India's much-delayed plans to sell the indebted
loss-making carrier and risks denting India's image as an investment destination
India last year suffered two big losses in international arbitrations -- the $3 billion tax dispute with Vodafone Group Plc and the $1.2
billion dispute with Cairn
India has challenged both rulings.Around the time of Cairn's petition in May, authorities asked state-run banks to protect their dollar
deposits on concern that these could also be at risk of seizure, Bloomberg News had reported.Indian authorities and Devas are engaged in
multiple court cases globally in which Devas seeks the award money while India wants to liquidate the company and investigate an alleged
fraud.The dispute goes back to 2011 when an Indian state-owned company Antrix Corp
annulled an agreement with Devas citing force majeure
Devas said in its petition that the annulment eroded the value of its multi-million dollar investments
An arbitration tribunal in 2020 awarded Devas more than $111 million plus interest
Devas also won $562.5 million in damages plus interest from separate proceedings at the International Chamber of Commerce.Devas says Antrix
has paid neither of these
An Air India spokesman declined to comment
A representative for Indian Space Research Organisation, which controls Antrix, didn't immediately respond to requests for comments.The top
court in November had halted implementation of the $1.2 billion award after the country's Attorney General K.K
Venugopal denied possibility of a settlement saying Indian authorities have "discovered a serious fraud in the entire series of transactions
leading up to the disputes including the arbitration agreement." Lawyers for Devas had denied the allegations.On a petition by Antrix, a
company court in India last month ordered winding up Devas
An appeal is pending hearing in an appellate court.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff
and is published from a syndicated feed.)
