The state concern "Turkmenhimiya" estimated the damage from cooperation with JSC "Belgorkhimprom", which built the Garlyk Mining and Processing Plant in 2017 , in the amount of $911 million. Such information is contained in documents that came into the possession of the Turkmen news publication.
The Turkmen side at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (Sweden) is represented by one of the world's largest legal clinics, Squire Patton Boggs. The Turkmen authorities hired her for $9 million.
The documents say that on May 28, 2018, Turkmenistan unilaterally terminated the contract between the State Corporation "Turkmenhimiya" and "Belgorkhimprom", in December a lawsuit was filed for consideration in the Stockholm arbitration. Based on a technical and financial audit conducted by SRK Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers, lawyers from Squire Patton Boggs sued Belgorkhimprom in the amount of $911 million.
The Belarusian side rejected Turkmenistan's claims and filed a counterclaim in the amount of $418 million on December 21, 2020.
The arbitration was supposed to take place in February of this year, but there is no decision either on the website of the law firm or on the website of the arbitration yet, the newspaper notes.
The Garlyk GOK, which cost $1.1 billion, was built in March 2017, but has not been brought to its design capacity in three years. As of the end of 2018, the plant produced slightly more than 2% of the planned annual volume of fertilizers.
In March 2019, the head of Belgorkhimprom, Vyacheslav Korshun , confirmed that he had received claims from the Turkmen side regarding the construction of the mining and processing plant. He stated that the Belarusian company did not deny that they had not fulfilled part of the obligations for the construction of the potash complex, but through the fault of the Turkmen side. "Turkmenhimiya" did not pay "Belgorkhimprom" more than $150 million for the work performed.
At the same time, it was reported that since Turkmenhimiya and Belgorkhimprom blame each other for the downtime of the enterprise, they would resolve the dispute in court.
In September 2019, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko instructed to “worthily” resolve the issue of the Garlyk mining and processing plant.
Former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the work of the GOK.
Turkmen news recalls that Squire Patton Boggs has extensive experience in defending the interests of Turkmenistan in arbitration proceedings. Over the past few years, the company has represented Turkmenistan in proceedings against Turkish construction firms Visor Mühendislik Insaat (case closed February 2022), Setta Insaat (case closed November 2021) and Imeks Insaat (pending). What ended the first two considerations is unknown.
Squire Patton Boggs successfully represented Turkmenistan in the case of Turkish businessman Muhammet Chap and his company Sehil Insaat against Turkmenistan. In May 2021, the Stockholm arbitration rejected a claim against Turkmenistan in the amount of almost $500 million.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan