Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Babayeva / The date for the next hearing at the Rotterdam Court regarding the lawsuit of the Maltese FimBank (First International Merchant Bank Ltd.) against the Azerbaijani Government has been defined. The hearing was scheduled for 9 October, the head of the Rights and Human Resources Department at the Azerbaijani Communications and Information Technology Ministry, Bakhtiyar Mammadov, reported.
According to Mammadov, the development of events at the meeting can go in two ways. Either FimBank can inquire to hear additional witnesses or the Court can make this decision by itself in order to make a final decision on the case. An oral trial can be held where the two parties will make their statements and protect their interests.
Witnesses from both sides testified during the recent hearing.
For several years, FimBank has been demanding that Azerbaijan pay off a loan in the amount of over $4.5mln, which, according to the bank, was allotted to Azerbaijani telecommunication companies under the state guarantee. Azerbaijan, in turn, states that these companies never existed and were not issued guarantees.
The first lawsuit was initiated by FimBank in July 2004 at the courts of Rotterdam and Paris.