The anticipated 10 week court battle between companies connected with Mobile Telesystems (MTS) and Altimo, the telecoms unit of the Alfa Group, over the acquisition of Bitel LLC, which was formerly the leading mobile telecoms provider in Kyrgyzstan, began this week in the Isle of Man Courts. Jurisdiction was decided in March 2011 when the UK Privy Council sitting as the highest Court of Appeal for the Isle of Man ruled that there was a substantial risk that the Claimants (three Isle of Man Companies) would not obtain justice in Kyrgyzstan and that, in reality, to deny them the ability to litigate in the Isle of Man would be to deny them any recourse to justice. The Claimants’ case at the trial is that Bitel was wrongfully taken from them, which Altimo denies. Altimo’s Kyrgyz subsidiary, Sky Mobile, acquired Bitel’s business and assets in 2006.
Graham Dunning QC with James Willan as Junior, instructed by Appleby, are acting for the Claimants, which are seeking $800m in damages in one of the biggest civil court cases ever to be heard on the island, as was reported by the Financial Times on 29 May 2013.
