Foot-dragging in TIU Canada case consideration: GOLAW attorneys’ point of view

The Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, the day before the scheduled court hearing, filed an appeal against the decision of the court of the first instance, with which he had previously fully agreed.

During the court hearing it became known that the court accepted the appeal of the Plant’s representatives, despite the fact that the terms of the appeal submission expired six months ago.

GOLAW attorneys who represent the interests of the Canadian investor in Ukraine are convinced that the consideration of the appeal after the actual deadlines, established by the law is a foot-dragging in the case and the Plant abuses its procedural rights.

“The deadline for appealing expired in February this year. Moreover, while the case was being heard in the appellate court, the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant did not challenge the lawfulness of the first-instance court’s decision and actually asked the court to uphold it.

Only now, more than six months after the start of the appeal hearing, the day before the court hearing, the opponents decide to file an appeal and ask the court to move the case from Kyiv to Dnipro. According to the Plant, it failed to timely file the appeal due to the lack of financial means to pay court fees, as well as imposed quarantine restrictions, without providing any evidence to support these statements”, said Kateryna Manoylenko, who represents the Canadian investor in Ukraine.

“We are sure that the panel of judges of the Court of Appeal is delaying the decision in the case. As of now, due to reasonable doubts about the objectivity and impartiality of judges, we have filed an application to dismiss the panel of judges”, said Kateryna Tsvetkova, the plaintiff’s representative in the case.

The next court hearing is scheduled for the 4^th of October and will take place in the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal of Kyiv.

TIU Canada is a leading Canadian investor that has invested more than $ 65 million in Ukrainian solar energy over the past four years and became the first investor in Ukraine under the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA). The company put into operation a 10.5 MW solar power plant in Nikopol in January 2018, which was illegally disconnected from the grids by the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant. The plant is owned by Ukrainian oligarchs Igor Kolomoisky, Gennadiy Bogolyubov and Viktor Pinchuk.