Philip Morris, a US company, moved ownership of its Australian operations to Hong Kong to take advantage of ISDS in an Australia-Hong Kong investment treaty.
The Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement and separate Investment Agreement signed still give special rights to foreign investors to bypass national courts and sue governments for millions of dollars in international tribunals
It has taken a second FOI case and another two years to reveal that Australian taxpayers were only awarded half of the costs of defending Australia’s tobacco plain packaging laws against tobacco giant Philip Morris in March 2017.
The annulment committee has dismissed Churchill’s application for annulment of the award for the dispute arising out of the revocation of the mining licenses that made up the East Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan.
Kingsgate has been fighting the Thai Government and its insurers over the cancelled Chatree goldmine after it was denied renewal of its metallurgical licence.
Pakistan is making a last-ditch effort for an out-of-court settlement in the Reko Diq mining case, wherein the complainant company whose contract was terminated is claiming $11.43 billion in damages in an international tribunal.