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Viewing cable 08DUSHANBE1470, TALCO SETTLES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT IN BRITISH

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08DUSHANBE1470 2008-12-08 08:08 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Dushanbe
VZCZCXRO0583
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1470/01 3430808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080808Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1237
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RHEHNS/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0011
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001470 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EIND EMIN PGOV TI
SUBJECT: TALCO SETTLES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT IN BRITISH 
COURTS 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  On November 27, Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco), 
Tajikistan's largest enterprise, settled a three-year lawsuit in 
British courts against former Talco managers and suppliers, whom it 
alleged defrauded the company of $500 million.  Details of the 
settlement have not been released, but embassy contacts say Talco 
got $200 million in the deal.  The lawsuit, which had grown into one 
of the most expensive cases in UK legal history, has already cost 
Talco at least $134 million in legal fees, fueling charges that the 
government of one of the world's poorest countries has misplaced 
priorities.  Such accusations perhaps played a role in the decision 
to settle this case, but have not ended the legal wrangling.  There 
is talk that Talco may now be considering a suit against Russian 
aluminum giant Rusal, which it accuses of participating in the 
fraud.  End summary. 
 
SETTLEMENT ANNOUNCED 
 
2. (SBU) On November 27, Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco) withdrew its 
$500 million lawsuit in British courts against the Ansol company, 
run by former Talco supplier Avaz Nazarov.  The suit had gained 
international notoriety as one of the most expensive cases ever 
litigated in the United Kingdom, with legal bills topping GBP 90 
million ($134 million) -- equivalent to over 3.6% of Tajikistan's 
2007 GDP.  (An Embassy source says that Talco's bills have actually 
topped $150 million, although this has not yet been reported in the 
press.)  According to a brief statement issued by Talco and 
confirmed by Ansol, the parties reached a settlement in the case 
with no admission of liability by either side.  Ansol dropped a $130 
million countersuit it filed against Talco.  Talco said it would 
hold a press conference to reveal further details about the 
settlement. 
 
3. (U) Talco initiated the lawsuit in 2005 against its former 
director, Abdukadir Ermatov, and his son, Cherzod, accusing them of 
accepting lavish bribes from the company's main supplier of alumina, 
a group of companies controlled by Nazarov.  According to lawyers 
for Talco, the defendants conspired to divert more than $500 million 
in profits between 1996 and 2004, when President Rahmon ousted the 
Ermatovs and Nazarov.  The defendants denied the charges and 
launched their counterclaim against current Talco management, 
including members of the President's family and inner circle.  The 
case has had an international character as well, with claims 
emerging that Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who controls the 
aluminum giant Rusal, was involved in the scheme with Nazarov. 
Talco lawyers alleged that Ansol partnered with Rusal to sell the 
smelter alumina at grossly inflated prices, then buy processed 
aluminum at a bargain rate.  Rusal has denied wrongdoing. 
 
4. (U) After the ouster of Talco's former management team in 2004, 
control of the operation -- and its substantial profits -- was moved 
offshore to the British Virgin Islands.  Under the new management 
arrangement, a company called CDH Investments, which reportedly is 
controlled by President Rahmon and several other prominent Tajik 
figures, pays Talco a straight "tolling fee" for the use of the 
smelter.  CDH provides Talco with inputs, including alumina, and 
reaps whatever profit (or loss) emerges from sale of the smelter's 
output on the world market.  Since Tajikistan imports all of the raw 
materials required for aluminum production and lies at the end of a 
long and difficult supply line, Talco's single competitive advantage 
Qlong and difficult supply line, Talco's single competitive advantage 
has been the country's bargain-basement electricity prices, which 
are kept below generation costs by the political leadership. 
Critics, including the defendants in the London court case, accuse 
the government of defrauding its citizens by directing crucial 
energy resources to the smelter and then exporting its profits 
offshore, so that the state coffers see little in the way of income 
or tax revenue.  At the same time, Tajikistan's citizens continue to 
suffer from chronic energy shortages, with most parts of the country 
currently limited to six or seven hours of power per day. 
 
TALCO RUMORED TO GET $200 MILLION IN DEAL 
 
5. (SBU) While no details about the settlement have appeared in the 
press, an Embassy contact with ties to Talco reported to us that 
Ansol had agreed to compensate Talco in the amount of $200 million 
by transferring property in Tajikistan belonging to Nazarov, 
including several buildings, schools, and other real estate, to the 
Tajik government and by repaying debt to Tajikistan's state 
electricity company Barki Tojik for electricity used during the late 
1990s and early 2000s.  Reportedly, Ansol also agreed to repay 
Talco's debt to Gerald Metals, a U.S. firm which sued Talco for 
non-delivery of aluminum for which Gerald paid $25 million. 
 
6. (SBU) Another Embassy contact, who works for an international 
financial institution in Dushanbe, said that if the $200 million 
settlement figure was real, it would be a considerable achievement 
 
DUSHANBE 00001470  002 OF 002 
 
 
for Talco in a case that has otherwise been an embarrassment for the 
company.  He had seen some circumstantial evidence that Talco was 
happy with the settlement.  At a party he attended earlier this 
week, Talco Deputy Director Sherali Kabirov showed up unexpectedly, 
"a little tipsy" and in exceptionally high spirits, and clapped 
everyone on the back.  When asked why Talco might have decided to 
settle now, our contact speculated that it was connected with the 
low price of aluminum on world markets.  Talco management might have 
doubted there was much more to gain from Ansol, which is also 
affected by the slump. 
 
7. (SBU) Many top Tajik officials were in London to participate in 
the case, including Murodali Alimardon, Deputy Prime Minister and 
former head of the National Bank; Faizullo Kholboboev, Tajikistan's 
representative to the Eurasian Economic Community in Moscow and 
former advisor to President Rahmon on economic policy; Hasan 
Asadullozoda, chief of Tajikistan's largest private bank, Orion 
Bank; Jamshed Ziyaev, head of TajPromBank and Chief Prosecutor of 
the city of Tursunzade, where TALCO is located; and Gulomjon 
Bobozoda, Minister of Economic Development and Trade. 
 
8. (SBU) According to Embassy's contact, Talco had some documentary 
evidence against Deripaska's Rusal company and was now planning to 
file a case against the Russian aluminum giant.  Our contact 
speculated that this strategy was a dangerous one, however, because 
Rusal was likely to have similarly incriminating evidence against 
Talco that it could reveal in open court. 
 
TOUGH TIMES FOR TALCO 
 
9. (SBU) Even with the rumored $200 million settlement -- which 
comes out to only some $50 million after the company pays its legal 
fees -- these are difficult times for Talco.  In the face of the 
world economic crisis aluminum prices are as low as $1,400 per ton, 
over 50% off their summer high.  Our contact reports that some 
50,000 tons of aluminum currently lie unsold in Talco's warehouses. 
While because of the tolling arrangement this will not have a direct 
impact on Tajikistan's economy -- since profits are taken off-shore 
the country in fact did not benefit when times were good -- it may 
have an indirect effect as the President and other Talco 
beneficiaries cast about for ways to replace their lost income. 
 
10. (SBU) Comment: If the $200 million figure proves to be accurate, 
Talco did better than expected in the settlement.  Initial 
speculation suggested that Talco settled the case for little or 
nothing in order to stem its hemorrhaging legal expenses and 
international embarrassment.  Rumors that President Rahmon himself 
might be called to testify may have been another inducement to end 
the case.  In the end, however, the primary consideration may simply 
have been cold, hard cash.  End comment. 
 
QUAST