In a hearing held this Tuesday, April 4 (08:45 London time), at the High Court of England and Wales, Judge Sara Cockerill notified the lawyers of the parties of the sentence corresponding to the lawsuit filed by the vulture fund CRF i Limited against the Republic of Cuba and the Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC).
The judgment upholds the position maintained by the Cuban party during the process, and rejects CRF's claim against the Cuban State.
The ruling confirms that the irregularities committed by BNC officials, subject first to criminal investigation and then to judicial sentence, were reasonable grounds for the Cuban Government to deny its consent to assign the debt in favor of CRF.
The document affirms, as the Republic of Cuba had been alleging, that the BNC has no legal capacity or authority to represent the country.
This ratifies that CRF is a stranger to the financial instruments it claimed against Cuba and had no right to establish the claim in London; the Republic of Cuba is, therefore, immune from English jurisdiction, and has no obligation to respond with its assets to this claim.
As explained above, the focus of the legal proceedings was to determine whether the English court had jurisdiction to hear CRF's claim as a creditor of BNC and the Republic of Cuba.
According to the judgment notified yesterday morning, CRF is not a creditor of the Cuban State, which means that the Republic of Cuba is out of the lawsuit.
From now on, the process will continue only against the Banco Nacional de Cuba, which will have the right to establish the claims allowed by English law.
Translated by ESTI