Cuba will appeal to the High Court of England and Wales against the decision of Judge Sara Cockerill against the National Bank of Cuba (BNC), regarding the lawsuit filed by the vulture fund CRF i Limited (CRF), a document to be filed before May 19.
This was explained to the press by Oscar Silvera Martínez, Minister of Justice, who referred to the recent ruling of the English court and added that CRF is not a legitimate creditor of Cuba.
"It was not a legitimate creditor of the Republic of Cuba because it never consented to the assignment of its guarantee to that creditor, and we believe that it is not a legitimate creditor of the BNC either, because the act in which that assignment was approved is illegal," the minister affirmed.
However, if there is no corruption, the document that supposedly informed CRF of the approval of the assignment of the credits in its favor "have serious irregularities," Silvera Martínez pointed out.
For this, the country claims that there is no double signature and no document that the bank, due to its characteristics, establishes as a security reason to accredit a sovereign decision.
He reiterated that this is a claim made against the Republic of Cuba and the BNC as different entities: the former as a sovereign guarantor with the power of the State to assume responsibilities in guaranteeing the debt assumed by other entities of the government and the country, and the BNC as another entity of the national banking system.
The Ministry of Justice (MINJUS in Spanish) is the agency of the central state administration whose mission, among others, is to provide legal assistance - and legal advice - to the state and the government.
In this capacity, the Minister of Justice explained, we have been appointed to assume the legal representation of the Republic in this judicial process.
THE CUBAN STATE WON
In the ruling on April 4, the judge ruled that the English court did not have jurisdiction over the claim filed by CRF against the Republic of Cuba, since it was not a legitimate creditor of the claimed credit.
"Therefore, we affirm that Cuba has won, because the State has won the case against CRF and is out of the process. From this moment on, the Republic, as a sovereign entity, is not in the judicial process," he affirmed.
Silvera Martinez explained that there may be variants in which the opposing party may file appeals, which has not been announced in the hearing of consequence.
But what does it mean that the Republic is immune to the English jurisdiction?
In this regard, Martinez Silvera pointed out that the Court of England and Wales cannot make a pronouncement on the Republic of Cuba, because this assignment of credit, which the judgment itself justifies that the National Bank of Cuba has with CRF, at no time had the assignment of the guarantee. "The State did not approve that its guarantee on the debt be assumed by CRF. That was what the judge determined and that was what we justified in our defense," he said.
This, said the Minister of Justice, has been a process that has been carried out in compliance with the legal requirements established by the English procedure, in which Cuba and the BNC have strictly complied with their procedural obligations in the lawsuit.
Silvera Martínez pointed out that it has required a great deal of study and systematization on the part of all parties involved, with the Cuban side submitting more than 2,000 documents.
WHAT HAPPENED PRIOR TO THE LAWSUIT?
The Minister of Justice pointed out that the BNC assumed the functions of the Central Bank until 1997.
"There appears an argument that we have been establishing, which was not successful on this occasion, but it will surely be one of the reasons for the appeal that we have decided to establish in favor of the BNC".
He emphasized that these debts, assumed by the BNC before 1997, while it was acting as the Central Bank, are public debt.
The debts corresponded to a deposit contract between the BNC and the Crédit Lyonnais Bank, and it was proven in the trial that it never had a sovereign guarantee.
The other credit, with the Italian Banking Institute, did have a sovereign guarantee (in which the State assumed payment of the debt if necessary), but was never assigned to CRF, instead, they were transferred to Standard Bank, which was later merged with ICBC, and assigned their debts to CRF in 2019.
Therefore, any movement on that public debt needs and requires authorizations from the Cuban Government, with notification to the Ministry of Finance and Prices and, through it, to the Council of Ministers for approval.
There was no compliance with this step either in the act of assignment when CRF acquired this debt, which has other negative attributes.
In the case of Cuba, said the Minister, due to the economic, commercial and financial war of the U.S. Government against the Island, the country is especially careful to approve or not that debt assignment in favor of any creditor, "which, in this case, was not properly done."
Silvera Martínez pointed out that, as reported, BNC officials agreed to sign a document without any of the legal requirements established in the Procedures Manual of the aforementioned financial institution, and were subjected to the Cuban penal system.
Therefore, he added, with that act, in November 2019, and in a very typical vulture fund model of action, CRF sends a letter to the President of the BNC demanding payment or submit to a lawsuit in court.
"No debtor acts like this. Debt and credits are reconciled, negotiated, and the debtor's position is known. In 2019, the Island was going through the effects of Hurricane Irma, so CRF pursued the objective of forcing Cuba to negotiate or go to court, to achieve a judgment from an English court," he said.
At an initial moment, the CRF intended Cuba to declare itself in procedural default, assuming that the country, due to economic limitations, would not have possibilities to hire lawyers abroad, as provided by English laws.
However, we have complied with all the requirements of the process, which has lasted about three years, and "not a day has gone by since the lawsuit was filed in which we have not done something", said the Minister.
In correspondence with the English procedure, Cuba hired a legal representation from that country and another as intermediary, assumed by the Spanish law firm Uría Menéndez.
"This conformation of the working group also gave us certain capacities for resolution and knowledge to better meet each one of the demands and requirements of this process," he pointed out.
The objective of CRF, demonstrated in the process, was to have a judgment against the State to force it to negotiate or prevent the Island's access to international financial flows and to be able to take actions against Cuban assets abroad, such as bank accounts, airplanes and merchant ships, among others.
That objective, which is also part of the aggressive policy of the enemies of the Cuban Revolution, did not succeed, because during these three long years we have defended the truth and reason of our country, Silvera Martínez stressed.
He insisted that we are serious, transparent creditors, who use the money for what is requested. "That defense of the truth leads us to the fact that when someone tries to deceive us, we know and we will defend ourselves," he concluded.
Translated by ESTI
