On August 17, 2016, the London Court of International Arbitration issued the eighth award in the arbitration between Arricano Real Estate Plc and Stockman Interhold S.A. concerning property right on shares of Assofit Holdings Limited, a holding company that formerly had been the sole proprietor of Sky Mall (Kyiv, Ukraine). For this time, the London Court of International Arbitration ruled for Stockman Interhold S.A. company to cover the expenses incurred by Arricano Real Estate Plc in settling the argument in London Court of International Arbitration in amount of USA $ 0,9 mln.
Despite the arbitrary award issued by London Court of International Arbitration on May 5, 2016 in favour of Arricano, the Stockman company has not transferred or procured the transfer of the Option Shares within the prescribed period.
Mykhailo Merkulov, CEO Arricano Real Estate Plc, admits that the Sky Mall story has become, unfortunately, another obvious case of raiding in Ukraine, on the one side, and, on the other side, a testimony to the imperfection of Ukraine’s judicial system that leaves every investor unprotected: “Any foreign, and not only foreign, investor’s property right is not protected by anyone, in spite of numerous public declarations, return of investments cannot be performed because of helplessness and imperfect functioning of Ukraine’s judiciary system. As a result of corruption of judiciary and executive spheres, Arricano has been stripped of its share in Sky Mall: profit participation rights have been transferred to front companies of the raider partner, despite the injunctions and rulings in force. In order to ensure the supremacy of law, one needs systematic changes, political will of the Government and Head of the Ukrainian state, total elimination of corruption of both legislative and executive power branches. We still hope to see the just and successful settling of the matter and will be glad if, as a result of finding a solution to the argument, Sky Mall case will demonstrate to investors that it is safe and profitable to invest in Ukraine.”