Summary

Case No: CL-2015-000396

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XXXII: Overall result

363. The overall result is that HVY are entitled to judgment against the Russian Federation in respect of the damages awarded of over US$50 billion, plus the compound interest awarded on those damages (i.e., interest that has accrued since 18 July 2014).

364. I am conscious that some readers may have skipped directly to this final section of my judgment. It is important that all such readers understand, as I hope will already be apparent to the few diligent stalwarts who have ploughed through from beginning to end, that litigation of this kind is not a moral beauty contest. Despite the references above to public policy and universal morality, it has not been the function of this judgment to grade either HVY or the Russian Federation for morality; nor for beauty. In investor-state disputes, these qualities are not always present in abundance.

365. The New York Convention and the implementing provisions in ss. 101 to 103 of the Arbitration Act 1996 are inherently pro-enforcement. Within the parameters set by the authorities that I have discussed, they can be relied on by sinners, no less than by saints.

It is difficult for any defendant to resist the enforcement of a valid New York Convention arbitration award; especially when (as here) the jurisdiction of the Tribunal is no longer open to challenge. The moral failings that the Russian Federation has alleged against the Russian Individuals and HVY, whether or not they could be made out at trial, are simply incapable of affording any defence - save to the very limited extent that I have indicated in relation to costs.