The National Bank of Cuba (BNC) will appeal the court ruling britishwhich this Tuesday considered him a legitimate creditor of the investment fund CRF I Limited, from the Cayman Islands.
That same ruling, issued by Justice Sara Cockerill, of the Commercial Chamber of the High Court in London, dismissed consider the Republic of Cuba, which had also been sued by CRF, as a creditor.
The decision to appeal was confirmed by Cuban Justice Minister Oscar Silvera, who assured that the foreign financial institution, which the island’s authorities classify as a “vulture fund”, acted “in bad faith” when filing the lawsuit.
Silvera stated that “there are documents that prove the intention to harm the country and affect the financial flows of the Cuban economy,” according to review the agency Latin Press (PL).
The investment fund itself had admitted during the trial that it had acquired the debt “with the sole purpose of initiating this legal claim to force its payment,” according to international media reports at the time.
The debt bonds were previously in the name of ICBC Standard Bank, a British subsidiary of Chinese bank ICBC, and are derived from a loan made to the BCN by two European banking institutions in 1984.
CRF I Fund admits that it acquired Cuban debt to initiate a lawsuit for non-payment
The head of Justice pointed out that “Cuba is immune to English jurisdiction,” and that “it has no obligation to respond with its assets to the lawsuit,” the report says.
Silvera, like the government and the official Cuban media, considered Tuesday’s ruling “a victory” for the island and explained, aforementioned by PLthat “an unfavorable result would have led to possible withholdings of state assets and even new impediments to access to international financial flows.”
However, the process continues against the BNC, since, according to estimates by the British judge, the Cuban bank is a creditor of the debt of 72 million euros (78 million dollars) and the CRF can claim it for non-payment.
In addition, the magistrate considered that, unlike the Republic of Cuba, the BNC “is not immune to the jurisdiction of the Court” in which the matter was tried.
However, in Silvera’s opinion, CRF I Limited is not only not a legitimate creditor of Cuba, but also “from any of its institutions“, refers to the Cuban agency.
The Cayman Islands fund was created to invest in unpaid Cuban sovereign debt and has a bond portfolio that in 2017 amounted to 1.2 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars at current exchange rates). According to the Spanish agency EFEis considered the largest holder of Cuban debt.
