(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The United States Department of Justice has submitted the Statement of Interest before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the case PAO Tatneft v. Ukraine, supporting Ukraine's position on maintaining the moratorium on information disclosure.
The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Justice Ministry on facebook , an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
Ukraine insists that the court should deny Tatneft's motion to lift the stay and end the moratorium that has been in place since March 2022.
The American side supported Ukraine's credible concerns that the post-judgment discovery sought by Tatneft in 2021, which seeks, among other things, information on Ukrainian accounts and assets, as well as detailed information about the 'state-controlled entities', is overly broad and intended to compromise Ukraine's national security by revealing sensitive military and economic information.
In addition, the close ties between Tatneft and the Russian Federation make it likely that the discovery materials will end up in the hands of Russian government agencies.
Therefore, maintaining the moratorium for the duration of Russia's war of aggression meets the public interests and the interests of the United States.
Also, the United States made a reservation for its further Statement of Interest regarding the scope of information requested by Tatneft in this case.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna, among other requests, Tatneft attempts to obtain banking records concerning essentially all of Ukraine's international transactions.
“The court previously suggested a willingness to allow the discovery. With all due respect to the U.S. courts' decisions, it is absolutely unacceptable for Ukraine when the U.S. court system is used by the Russian Federation in abuse of rights in order to receive military and economically sensitive information from Ukraine,” Stefanishyna stressed.
A reminder that the case PAO Tatneft v. Ukraine is a U.S. litigation concerning the recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award against Ukraine and entered judgment against Ukraine in the amount of USD 172.9 million. In 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia confirmed the arbitral award that Tatneft had obtained against Ukraine.
Thereafter, Tatneft sought broad-ranging discovery for execution against Ukraine and 19 'state-controlled entities' that Tatneft had defined as equivalent to Ukraine for purposes of satisfying the judgment.
In 2021 (and then in early 2022), Tatneft served subpoenas on third-party financial institutions in New York, seeking the same aforementioned broad-ranging discovery. Objecting to Tatneftʼs subpoenas, Ukraine submitted the motion to quash subpoenas before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
With the comprehensive actions of the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, the case has remained suspended since March 2022. The parties jointly moved“for a moratorium on discovery and all related proceedings before this Court, consistent with the parties' right to modify ordinary discovery procedures by stipulation, pursuant to the inherent authority of the Court, and in the interest of justice”.
On November 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice officially informed the Court and the parties that the United States was considering whether to file a Statement of Interest and asked the Court to refrain from deciding the motion or otherwise lifting the moratorium on discovery until the United States completes its deliberations.
Ukraine is represented by the international law firm, Holland & Knight LLP.
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