Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Babayeva / A hearing took place at the Paris Court of Appeal held on 3 May on the suit filed by the Maltese Bank FIMbank (First International Merchant Bank) regarding the verdict which was passed, in favour of Azerbaijan.
Bakhtiyar Mammadov, the head of the Law and Personnel Department of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications
FIMbank demanded that Azerbaijan pay a credit in the amount of over $4.5mln, which the bank urged to be paid to Azerbaijani telecommunication companies under the state guarantee. Azerbaijan, in turn, stated that these companies never existed and were not issued guarantees.
The Paris Court of High Instance made the decision in November 2006 and the Bank was committed to pay €5,000 for inflicting moral damage to Azerbaijan and an additional €900 for court costs. FimBank, who repaid the outstanding amount, appealed to the Court of Appeal.
In July 2004, the Maltese FIMbank raised a claim against the Azerbaijani Government regarding the non-payment of credit issued under the guarantee of the Communications Ministry and AKB Pochtbank to non-existent enterprises of the Ministry, Aztell $3,035,000 and Baktell $1,560,000.