The former Soviet trade complex (seen in a satellite photo), which German businessman Franz Sedelmayer won in a court case, has an area of 15,000 sq. m.
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German Investor Wins Suit against Russia
On Tuesday, a court in Cologne ruled that the former Soviet trade offices complex be auctioned off with the proceeds to go against the ˆ4.9-million Russian debt to German businessman Franz Sedelmayer. It is a precedent, observers say, that may lead to many more suits against Russia. Sedelmayer won a case against the Russian government in the international commercial arbitration court in Stockholm in 1998 and was awarded ˆ2.3 million in compensation for lost investments. That sum, with accrued interest, has now come to ˆ4.9 million.
In 1991, SGC International, a company headed by Sedelmayer, founded a joint venture with the Main Department of Internal Affairs (police, Russian abbreviation GUVD) of St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg police contributed its headquarters, an old mansion on Kameny Island, to the authorized capital of the new company. That building was transferred to the presidential business office in 1995, and Sedelmayer demanded compensation for the expenses of reconstructing it.
A Russian-German treaty on the protection of investments allows the businessman to appeal to the Stockholm arbitration court. Russia refused to abide by the court's decision, leaving Sedelmayer, like the Swiss NOGA company, to seek compensation in Russian property. Sedelmayer attempted to seize the Roscosmos exhibit at the 2006 ILA airshow in Berlin. The private security personnel at the exhibit held off bailiffs.
Sedelmayer has been more successful with the 15,000-sq. m. trade complex. The court rules for its sale two years ago. The complex is now the property of the presidential administration and is rented by the city of Cologne and used to house refugees. Russia appealed the decision and transferred ownership of the complex to a state unitary enterprise. Now the Higher Regional Court in Cologne has ruled in favor of Sedelmayer. Although the latest court decision can be appealed to the German Supreme Court, experts say that the chances of an appeal being heard are slim.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 20, 2008
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