On 23 May 2019 the Court of Appeal overturned a first instance ruling of 21 December 2017 in Koza Ltd & Anor v Akcil & Ors [2019] EWCA Civ 891 , which included a finding that a proposed ICSID claim would fail on the basis that it was not an investment within the meaning of the UK-Turkey BIT or section 25(1) of the ICSID Convention. The Court of Appeal overturned this finding and held that the first instance judge had been wrong to declare that it was not in the ordinary and proper course of business for the Appellant, Koza Limited, to provide £3 million to finance an ICSID claim by its affiliate, Ipek Investments Limited. The decision reaffirms the pro-arbitration stance of the English Courts to ICSID arbitrations, which are self-contained and delocalised with no national court having a supervisory jurisdiction over the ICSID claim or the ICSID tribunal.
Vernon Flynn QC appeared for the appellant (Koza Ltd), instructed by Philip Rocher and Doug Watson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
