"Winston&Strawn LLP" informed about the final decision of the International arbitration against Ilya Levitis on his claim to Kyrgyzstan. 

According to information received by the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic from the law firm "Winston & Strawn LLP", representing the rights and legitimate interests of the Kyrgyz Republic in international arbitrations on claims regarding the nationalization of "AUB" (OJSC "AUB"), on December 19, 2013 the International Arbitration (Toronto, Canada) issued a final judgment against a US citizen Mr Ilya Levitis in his lawsuit against the Kyrgyz Republic. According to the decision, Mr Levitis was charged legal costs of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic in the amount of more than 400 thousand US dollars. 

Mr Levitis, a U.S. citizen, filed a lawsuit to the Kyrgyz Republic in international arbitration in March 2012, referring to the Agreement between the United States and the Kyrgyz Republic on mutual protection of foreign investment and the Law "On Investments in the Kyrgyz Republic". Mr Levitis demanded compensation for: (a) the alleged nationalization of his stake in OJSC "AUB" (b) "expropriation" of bills allegedly belonging to him to "AUB" and (c) "expropriation" of monetary contribution allegedly belonging to him to OJSC "AUB". The total amount of the claim was not clarified until the end of the case, but according to various estimates was worth between 7 million U.S. dollars and 15 million U.S. dollars. 

After giving the opinion of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on the claim of Mr Levitis, all claims were withdrawn. The Kyrgyz Republic has brought Mr Levitis a counterclaim for reimbursement of legal expenses of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. On December 19, 2013, the International Arbitration (Toronto, Canada) awarded Mr. Levitis a decision to recover 404 720 U.S. dollars in favor of the Kyrgyz Republic. 

This case of Mr Levitis is the second case concerning the nationalization of "AUB", on which the plaintiffs withdrew their claims and the decision to charge them with the legal expenses was made to recover the legal costs of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. As previously reported, on October 31, 2013 the International Arbitration (Dublin, Ireland), made a decision on the joint suit of the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC "AUB" Mr Mikhail Nadel and U.S. company IthacaHoldingInc, on which the plaintiffs recovered the legal expenses of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic in the amount of 281.095 U.S. dollars. 

To date, of all claims on OJSC "AUB" there remains one open claim, the repeated claim of Mr Nadel, in which he requires to pay compensation in the amount of over 400 million U.S. dollars "for nationalization of its stake in OJSC "AUB". According to information received from "Winston & Strawn LLP", Kyrgyz Government intends to reject the suit, as well as demand for recovery from Mr Nadel of the legal expenses of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, in addition to the already awarded 281.095 U.S. dollars against him. Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz Government lawyers have determination of the High Court of England, according to which, as part of the enforcement of the arbitral award, a penalty was imposed on the house in the county of Surrey around London bought by Mr Nadel in 2007 at 2.2 million British pounds (3.5 million U.S. dollars). 

Interests of the Kyrgyz Republic on all international arbitration cases on the nationalization of "AUB" is represented by the international law firm Winston & StrawnLLP, a group of lawyers headed by a partner of the London office of the company headed by Mr Andrey Yakovlev and Kyrgyz Law Firm "Satarov, Askarov and Partners" (formerly "Consulting on the Rule of Law"), the leading lawyers who are partners of Mr Anwar Askarov and Mr Ulan Satarov. 

 

Reference:  

Michael Nadel is a citizen of Russia, acquired 100% of shares of OJSC "AUB" in 1998 along with other investors, (a subsidiary of the bank registered on the island of Samoa "International Business Bank"). Mr Nadel was a chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank from 1998 to 2010. In 2010, after the investigation of the activity of "AUB" Mr Nadel was convicted on fraud and money laundering and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment in absentia by the Kyrgyz court.  

IthacaHoldingInc is a company founded in 2011 in California, USA, and has a registered office in the State of New York, USA. According to official figures, the companys shareholders are U.S. citizens Mr Andrew Mirer (being a former spouse of the former member of the Board of Directors of OJSC "AUB" Ms Alexandra Catherine), Evgeny Pashkevich, Natalia Odvak, Maya Slutsky, Konstantin Goltsev and Leonid Zharkovsky. 

Ilya Levitis is a U.S. citizen who lives in a suburb of Aventura of the city of Miami, Florida, USA. In 2000, Mr Levitis was under investigation of the U.S. Commission on Trade in Goods and Futures and was later convicted of fraud and the illegal sale of currency futures to wide range of people. Despite the filing of claims against the Kyrgyz Republic for compensation for the nationalization of allegedly his shares in OJSC "AUB", Mr Levitis was never listed in the register of shareholders of OJSC "AUB". 

 

 

National Bank experts shared the story of the national currency in Kyrgyzstan with the students 

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic was attended by students of the Faculty of International Relations of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University named after Boris Yeltsin. Employees of the National Bank conducted a tour around the numismatic exhibition and organized a lecture on the history of the National Bank. 

During the tour, Chief Specialist on the work with documents and communications of the National Bank, Ms Bermet Usubalieva told the guests about the first payment instruments in the history of mankind, as well as modern money. Students were presented exhibits of medieval coins, banknotes of different times and peoples, as well as modern banknotes and coins of Kyrgyzstan, which immortalized the history of the Kyrgyz people, nature and wildlife of the country. 

Students learnt with interest about the exhibits and shared their impressions of the tour. According to the first year student of the Faculty of International Relations of KRSU, Anastasia Belsky, the origin of money, creation and formation of the Kyrgyz som is very fascinating. While before she had only read this information in books, today she was able to see firsthand the ancient coins and money. 

"I am fond of collectible coins, - says Anastasias fellow student Meerim Abdyganieva. - Thus, todays tour was extremely interesting for me. I learned a lot from the world of coins and money in general." 

In turn, the student Nurbek Nazimov noted that a beautiful collectible silver coins were presented. "It is gratifying that the coin "Great Silk Road" won a prize in the prestigious contest "Coin Constellation". I am very proud of my country,"- he stated. 

A lecture was organized for students after the tour, where the chief expert of the Department of Cash of the National Bank Alexei Faleev, talked about how to create and improve the national currency and noted that since the introduction of its own currency from May 10, 1993, the National Bank has released the fourth series of national banknotes of the currency. The fourth series of banknotes combines the optimal ratio of modern design and the latest developments of security features. Today Kyrgyz soms contain more than 30 security features and is considered one of the safest currencies in the world" - he concluded. 

 

 

Licenses /certificates has been issued to the following non-financial credit institutions and exchange offices: 

PF MCC "Alliance Credit" issued a certificate of registration under No.206 as of December 27, 2013 for micro crediting of individuals and legal entities. Registered address is 207, Chui Avenue, Bishkek. 

LLC MCC "Credit Solutions" issued a certificate of registration under No. 478 as of December 24, 2013 for micro crediting of individuals and legal entities. Registered address is 29, Proletarskaya Street, Bishkek. 

 

Licenses /certificates of the following non-financial credit institutions were annulled/withdrawn: 

On December 24, 2013, the certificate of registration of LLC MCC "Baibol-Alarcha", under No.67 as of February 19, 2007 for micro crediting of individuals and legal entities was annulled. Self-liquidation of the organization according to the founders decision No. 10 as of December 18, 2013. Registered address is 16 Asanalieva Street, Bishkek. 

 

Interbank payments 

 

Interbank Payment Systems (IPS) indicators 

 

Total IPS 

Including 

Clearing system 

Gross system 

Volume, 

KGS 

Q-ty, 

Pc. 

Volume, 

KGS 

Q-ty, 

Pc. 

Volume, 

KGS 

Q-ty, 

Pc. 

Indicators for the period from December 23 to 27, 2013 (reporting period) 

Absolute Value 

31 297 843 412.59 

96 228 

3 418 295 290.30 

90 129 

27 879 548 122.29 

6 099 

Share in IPS payments (%)  

100.0 

100.0 

10.9 

93.7 

89.1 

6.3 

including 

(%):  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Net positions of the Common Interbank Processing Center 

0.1 

0.8 

0.5 

0.9 

0.0 

0.0 

Outgoing to the Central Treasury  

27.4 

28.2 

49.8 

29.8 

24.7 

4.6 

Incoming to the Central Treasury  

22.0 

27.5 

11.4 

29.2 

23.3 

3.0 

Outgoing to the Social Fund  

0.04 

0.6 

0.3 

0.7 

0.0 

0.0 

Incoming to the Social Fund  

1.7 

16.9 

15.3 

18.0 

0.0 

0.0 

Average weekly indicators for the last month 

Absolute Value  

16 626 096 367.42 

56 860 

1 769 071 402.24 

53 251 

14 857 024 965.17 

3 609 

Deviation of indicators for the reporting period from average weekly indicators for the last month 

Absolute Value  

14 671 747 045.17 

39 368 

1 649 223 888.06 

36 878 

13 022 523 157.12 

2 490 

88.2 

69.2 

93.2 

69.3 

87.7 

69.0 

 

Elcart System indicators 

 

 

As of  

20.12.2013 

27.12.2013 

The total number of issued cards  

(excluding reissued)  

 244 507 

247 695  

Number of POS-terminals:  

- in banks  

- in sale outlets  

1232 

676 

556 

1233 

676 

556 

Number of ATMs  

332  

333