On September 15, 2023, the Southern District of New York issued an order requiring Citibank, N.A. and Citigroup, Inc. to "unequivocally instruct the managers of Citibank Gabon, S.A. to comply with [a] present order of the Libreville Commercial Court in Gabon, and to preserve the status quo by maintaining the present freeze of the [the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company S.A. ("COTCO") funds until resolution of the COTCO shareholders' disputes, except for amounts necessary for the ordinary course of payment of COTCO's employees, taxes, and its existing subcontractors and suppliers essential to COTCO's operation of the pipeline."
This order was the result of a petition for injunctive relief in aid of arbitration filed by Savannah Midstream Investment Limited ("SMIL") pursuant to Rules 64 and 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 7502(c) of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules.
SMIL is a significant shareholder of COTCO, who holds over $150,000,000 in assets in Citibank's Gabon "branch." COTCO was established in the late 1990s as a result of a collaboration between the Republic of Cameroon and the Republic of Chad to develop the production capacity of certain oil fields in Southern Chad. After SMIL's ownership changed, Chad purportedly tried to nationalize SMIL's assets in COTCO and tried to oust SMIL from COTCO. According to SMIL, Chad continues to take illegal steps amid a military coup in Gabon to cause a Gabonese court to vacate a protective injunction freezing COTCO’s funds held in accounts at the Gabon branch of Citibank. SMIL initiated arbitration with the ICC International Court of Arbitration, who ordered interim relief against Chad.
Citibank opposed SMIL's request, arguing that the Court cannot direct them to freeze accounts held at Citi Gabon, which it is not a branch, but an entity independent of Citibank, that SMIL failed to name necessary parties such as COTCO and Chad and that, as a matter of comity, the Court should not intervene in the Gabon proceeding. Citibank filed a notice of appeal with the Second Circuit.
The case is Savannah Midstream Investment Limited v. Citibank, N.A. et al., No. 1:23-07771 (S.D.N.Y.). SMIL is represented by Debra Dubritz O'Gorman, Kevin S. Reed, Dennis Hranitzky, and Yehuda Goor of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. Citibank and Citigroup are represented by Sharon L. Schneier, Gaurav K. Talwar, and Theodore R. Snyder of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
The order can be downloaded below.
Komentarze