ZAGREB, 6 July 2022 - Croatia has lost an arbitration case regarding INA brought by the Hungarian oil company MOL, in which MOL alleged that the Croatian government did not honour its obligations from a gas business agreement, the Večernji List daily said on Wednesday.
According to unofficial information, having lost the case, Croatia will have to pay between 250 and 300 million US dollars, including interest. Croatia's objections regarding corruption during the purchase of INA by MOL from the Croatian state were rejected as well.
The case was dealt with by the International Court for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington.
It was launched in 2013 by MOL, which claimed that Croatia had not honoured its obligations from a master agreement on gas business and its annexes.
Under that agreement, signed in 2009, INA was to divest a part of its (nonprofitable) gas business by having the state take over the underground gas storage facility at Okoli, which the state did, but it did not take over gas trade as well, which was the reason for MOL's lawsuit.
This is the second arbitration case Croatia has lost to MOL. The first one was dealt with by the UN Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in late 2016 said that Croatia would buy back MOL's stake in INA and the process is still under way.
MOL is the single largest shareholder in INA, holding 49.1% of the stock (4,908,207 shares), while the Croatian government holds 4,483,552 shares, or 44.8%. Private and institutional shareholders hold 608,241 shares, or 6.1%.
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