The European Court of Human Rights has deemed inadmissible the appeal presented by Enel and Enelpower for violation of the right to a fair trial and the principle of legality, with a request for the Republic of Albania to be sentenced to compensation for damages. Point in favor of the Italian-Albanian renewable energy group Albania Beg in the long 430 million dispute initiated against the Enel group for the failure to build a power plant.
The Court, which rejected the appeal with an act of the single judge, considers that "the admissibility criteria referred to in articles 34 and 35 of the European Convention on Human Rights have not been satisfied".
Enel, for its part, specifies that the declaration of inadmissibility by Strasbourg took place "for formal reasons, without the judges having analyzed the merits of the matter".
At the basis of the dispute between Enel and Albania Beg Ambient, there is a collaboration contract, which never came to fruition, for the construction of a power plant in Tirana. The dispute began in 2000 in Italy with an arbitration award, won by the Enel group, between the Italian Beg (then the parent company of Albania Beg and now out of ownership) and Enelpower.
Enel recalls that the arbitration proceeding "concluded in 2002 with an award in favor of Enelpower, confirmed in 2010 by a ruling by the Court of Cassation, which rejected in its entirety the claim regarding Enelpower's alleged breach of an agreement for the construction of a hydroelectric plant in Albania. The Italian award was then followed by a judgment in Albania, initiated by the subsidiary Albania Beg Ambient Shpk, which concluded with a favorable outcome for the latter”.
According to the reconstruction of Albania Beg, the dispute initiated for unfair competition ended with a sentence of the Albanian Cassation which dates back to 7 March 2011 and which would have confirmed the sentence of Enel to pay approximately 25 million for acts of unfair competition and 405 million for the lack of energy production in the years 2005-2011. Based on this ruling, Albania Beg recently filed an appeal with the civil court in The Hague to obtain the seizure of up to 440 million of the sums held by Enel in some of its Dutch subsidiaries, such as Enel Finance International, EnelGreen Power International and Slovenske Electrarne Finance , and at institutions such as Abn Amro, Barclays, or Morgan Stanley.
"As regards the judicial initiatives undertaken by Albania BEG Ambient Shpk, Enel SpA and Enelpower SpA - specifies an official position of the Italian electricity group - dispute the validity of the opposing claims in every respect and are activating every initiative to protect their interests".
