On Tuesday, the Cuban government won a lawsuit filed by CRF I Limited (CRF), a vulture fund based in U.K. Cayman Islands, which claimed to be the legitimate creditor of two unpaid loans that European Banks originally granted to Cuba in 1984.
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In 2020, the CRF accused Cuba and its former central bank BNC before London's High Court over the loans, which are worth US$78 million, and required the consent of the BNC and Cuban government for any transfer of rights to a third party.
High Court Judge Sara Cockerill ruled that CRF did not obtain the consent of the Cuban government, so it has no legal standing to sue Cuba over the loans.
“The CRF bribed a former BNC official, whom Cuban authorities already sanctioned, to obtain this institution’s consent over the transfer of rights over the loan. This irregularity is a reasonable ground for the Cuban government to refuse to cede the debt to CRF," Cockerill stated.
“Cuba is now out of the English jurisdiction. From now on, the lawsuit will continue only against the BNC, which will have the right to defend itself from the CRF accusations,” the Judge stressed.
Cuban authorities pointed out that the BNC’s re-assignment of the debt was irregular and fraudulent since this bank had no legal capacity or authority to represent Cuba.
“Our country has never denied its debts and has always been willing to negotiate with their legitimate creditors,” Cuba's official newspaper Granma stressed, condemning that vulture funds always seek to benefit from the debts of sovereign states.