Members of One Essex Court were involved on both sides of this case which provides the most recent example of the English Commercial Court upholding and enforcing Russian Judgments against attacks by defendant oligarchs based upon allegations of fraud and lack of natural justice.
Mr. Justice Cranston in the Commercial Court gave Judgment for OJSC Bank of Moscow, a subsidiary of VTB (one of Russia’s largest banks) against Andrey Chernyakov in respect of three Judgments of the Moscow City Court amounting in total to approximately £150 million and based upon guarantees given by Mr. Chernyakov in respect of financing from the Bank to his company NPO Kosmos, formerly one of Russia’s largest construction companies.
The Bank was represented by Stephen Auld QC instructed by PCB Litigation.Mr. Chernyakov was represented by Zoe O’Sullivan QC instructed by Grosvenor Law LLP.
The Bank’s success in this case follows and reflects a similar victory in a Judgment of Mr. Justice Simon in the Commercial Court in JSC VTB Bank v. Skurikhin in April 2014 where Russian Judgments were upheld against an attack on similar grounds and the Bank was also represented by Stephen Auld QC instructed by PCB Litigation.
The Judgment in the Chernyakov case can be found here and the Judgment in the Skurikhin case can be found here.