London Court to consider CRF I Ltd’s case against Cuba
2023.01.23 15:28
London Court to consider CRF I Ltd’s case against Cuba
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Monday marked the beginning of a high-stakes legal battle between Cuba and one of the communist-run nation’s creditors over unpaid debt from the Fidel Castro era.
Other creditors, who have collectively struggled to recover an estimated $7 billion in defaulted loans from Havana, will closely monitor the eight-day case.
The investment firm that brought the case on Monday, CRF I Ltd., claims it owes 78.18 million euros for two loans granted to Cuba in the 1980s by European banks in German Deutschmarks.
In their legal argument prior to the case, Cuban authorities referred to CRF as a “vulture fund” and stated that the English Court had “no jurisdiction” to consider CRF’s claims.
After CRF and other bond holders made an offer to Havana in 2018 for debt relief, the claim was first made almost three years ago.
CRF Chairman David Charters told Reuters, “We are still ready to talk to the other side – even at this late stage.”
The coronavirus pandemic and restrictions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump have worsened the communist-run island’s financial situation in recent years.
Havana and members of the Paris Club of creditor nations came to an agreement in 2015 that saw roughly three-quarters of that debt forgiven. But the country is still out of the international capital markets because it hasn’t dealt with its commercial creditors in the so-called London Club.
In a statement issued prior to the case earlier this month, the Cuban central bank stated, “The BNC and Cuba have never ignored their debts and have always maintained their interest in negotiating with their legitimate creditors.”
Other nations in Latin America, most notably Argentina, have also had to settle for years with international funds that bought up defaulted debt cheaply and then pursued legal claims. Argentina is the most notable example of this.
