Pakistan must not pay the $6 billion it has been order to pay by a corporate court

Last week it was announced that Pakistan has been ordered to pay $5.9 billion in damages to Tethyan Copper, a joint venture between Chilean mining company Antofagasta and Canadian mining company Barrick Gold, nearly a decade after the government refused the company licences for one of the world’s biggest untapped copper and gold mines.

The award was ordered by the World Bank’s ‘corporate court’, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes or ICSID. Farooq Tariq General Secretary of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) a national network of peasant organisations, says Pakistan should refuse to pay.

 

Do not pay the unfair fine; oppose the unjust decision of ICSID

This is a story of a dodgy deal by a multinational company which is earning a massive amount of money through the so-called process of Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank institution acting against developing countries.

This is a new form of exploitation of the under-developed countries by these foreign investors where corruption is a way of life and lobbying to force the government to sign unjust contracts through retired military officers is done as routine. And if you dare to cancel these dodgy deals, then the World Bank comes to rescue you through its various institutions.

Here are some details of this unprecedented fine imposed on Pakistan.

The World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has imposed a penalty of $5.976 billion on Pakistan – one of the biggest in its history – for the “unlawful denial of a mining lease” to a company in 2011.

The Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) – a joint venture between Chilean mining company Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold Corporation – had filed claims for international arbitration in 2012 after the Balochistan government rejected a leasing request from the company for the Reko Diq project. It had claimed $11.43 billion in damages.

The Chagai Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement (Chejva) was signed between the Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) and BHP Minerals, incorporated in Delaware, United States.

 

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