(EFE) , and does not appear in the records of the institution.
CRF, established in 2009 in the Cayman Islands, has sued the BNC as the borrower and Cuba as guarantor in the British Court for the payment of obligations for 72 million euros derived from loan contracts with European banks signed in the 1980s.
Judge Sara Cockerill, of the Commercial Division of the High Court of London, must first determine in a process of several days whether or not the investor group is a legitimate creditor of Cuba, which considers it “a vulture fund”, constituted only to accumulate unpaid Cuban debt and force its collection in the courts.
According to documents from this process, CRF has Cuban sovereign debt worth some 1.2 billion euros (which does not mean that it has the contractual rights to collect it), which would make it the main holder in the world.
CRF alleges, for its part, that the assignment of the contractual rights to the debt of 72 million that was previously managed by the ICBC Standard Bank was legal.
Río Álvarez, who took office in May 2020, maintained that the CRF is not registered with the BNC as a creditor (only its request) and reiterated that an assignment of that status authorized on November 25, 2019 by the official Raúl was invalid. Olivera Lozano, today convicted of accepting a bribe from fund agents and violating procedures.
CRF alleges, for its part, that the assignment of the contractual rights to the debt of 72 million that was previously managed by the ICBC Standard Bank (British subsidiary of the Chinese bank ICBC) was legal and that the accusations against Olivera and other colleagues sentenced to prison “They are a fabricated pretext” by the Cuban State “to evade its obligations.”
Olivera declared yesterday, also by videoconference from Havana, that the CRF consultant Jeetkumar Gordhandas offered him money to consent to the transfer of the titles, which he did irregularly, with his single signature (instead of two) and without consult the Cuban government.
Río Álvarez stressed this Wednesday that “no BNC employee has the authority to act on behalf of the Government of Cuba.” The CRF assures that it is not a vulture fund and points out that for years it tried to negotiate with Cuba to restructure its debt, without obtaining a response.
On the banners, the demonstrators classified the Castro brothers as terrorists and also called for the freedom of political prisoners held by the Government
Parallel to the trial in London, dozens of protesters showed their support for the lawsuit filed by CRF on Tuesday in Miami (USA). The people gathered next to the Versailles restaurant, on the emblematic Calle 8 and the usual scene of the protests of Cubans in exile against the Government of Havana, shouted and insulted the Castro brothers, for whom they requested a sentence before the International Court from The Hague.
On the banners, the demonstrators classified the Castro brothers as terrorists and also called for the release of the political prisoners that the Government of Havana maintains in jails on the island.
The CRF I fund, the largest holder of Cuban debt in the London Club, began by claiming about 100 million euros for loans to the island government from the European banks Crédit Lyonnais and L’Istituto Bancario Italiano.
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