Blow to India: Court orders confiscation of assets of 20 countries in Paris

(PTI) New Delhi, Dt

India has suffered another blow after international arbitration against British company Kern Energy. Following an international arbitration order in the retrospective tax case, London-based Kern Energy, in a bid to recover ૧ 1.5 billion from India, has undertaken to seize Indian government assets in the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Singapore, Mauritius and the Netherlands. A French court has ordered the confiscation of 20 high-value properties. The court has ordered the confiscation of the Indian government's assets in France, including flats worth an estimated two crore euros (Rs 12.5 crore). However, the Indian government said it had not received any such order.

The French court tribunal de Paris agreed to Kern's application on June 11. Kearn applied to freeze Government of India-owned residential houses in Paris through a judicial mortgage. Kern's application has been upheld by the court and the legal formalities in this regard were completed on Wednesday. Kern Energy is unlikely to evict Indian officials from the assets, but the Indian government will no longer be able to sell the assets following a court order.

The finance ministry, meanwhile, said it had not received any such order from any French court and would take appropriate legal action once it received such an order. In its statement, Kern Energy said it needed to take legal action to protect the interests of its international stakeholders as its tax dispute remained unresolved.

A three-member international arbitration tribunal in December last year unanimously rejected the central government's decision to levy retrospective tax on Kern and ordered the central government to return the company's sold shares, confiscated dividends and the amount of tax recovered with interest. The government has filed an application in court in the Netherlands against the order.

Kern Energy has begun taking steps to enforce international arbitration orders in countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada, Singapore, Mauritius, France and the Netherlands. The company has identified વિદેશ 20 billion in overseas assets of India for possible foreclosure to recover US ૧ 1.5 billion, including interest and penalties.

Last month, Kern filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York seeking the seizure of Air India's assets. The company argued that the Indian government owns Air India, so the airline's assets could be confiscated to enforce the international arbitration order. Similarly, the company is likely to sue other countries for seizing India's high-value assets.

The finance ministry said the Indian government had not received any order or notice from any French court. Legal action will be taken to protect India's interests when such an order or notice is received. The Indian government has filed a case in Hughes seeking revocation of the international arbitration order. The CEO of Kern Energy and its representatives have approached the Government of India to resolve the dispute. The government is striving for a peaceful resolution of this dispute within the country's legal framework.

Kern said she was looking forward to the peaceful resolution of the dispute. We seek a peaceful, amicable settlement of this dispute with the Government of India. We have submitted a series of detailed proposals to the government in February this year. However, in the absence of a settlement, the Company will take all necessary legal action to protect the interests of its international stakeholders.

The Canadian-Chilean copper company confiscated Pak's assets

A British Virgin Islands court has issued a similar order to the confiscation of Pakistani assets, in the same way that the British company Kern Energy has obtained from a French court. A British Virgin Islands court has ordered the confiscation of assets owned by Pakistan International Airlines to settle a case against the Pakistani government in favor of a Canadian-Chilean copper company. These hotels are located in New York and Paris.

What is the controversy over Kern's retrospective tax collection?

Scottish company Kern Energy invested in India's oil and gas sector in the 19th century and a decade later it found a huge amount of oil in Rajasthan. The company also listed its Indian company on the BSE in 2009. However, five years later, the government passed a tax law with retrospective effect, charging Kern Rs. A bill of Rs 10.5 crore was hit. When the company did not pay, the central government liquidated Kern's balance in the Indian unit as part of the foreclosure, forfeited dividends and withheld tax refunds. Kern Energy filed a lawsuit against the government's move at the International Arbitration Tribunal in Hugh, in which the international arbitrator ordered the Indian government to pay a total of US ૧ 1.5 million (Rs 12,500 crore) by December 2020.