Ethiopia wins major International Court case against Israeli firm ICL

The Hague based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) passed its final judgment on Friday rejecting the Israel based mining company’s, Israel Chemical Limited (ICL) compensation claims filed against the government of Ethiopia.
 
ICL took Ethiopia to the international court claiming that Ethiopia violated the Netherlands-Ethiopia Bilateral Investment Treaty for imposing capital gains and value added taxes on offshore transactions.  
 
A senior government official told The Reporter that the court proceeding that took four years has concluded with Ethiopia wining on all counts.  
 
The exceptionally high-profile tribunal is chaired by the current President of the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judge Joan Donoghue.  The other two arbitrators are also highly distinguished: Professor Sean D. Murphy, a distinguished Professor of Law at George Washington Law School and a member of the International Law Commission (ILC), and Mr. Robert Smit, a renowned New York based private arbitrator with decades of experience.    In these proceedings, the Claimant, ICL, was represented by two major US based international law firms: White & Case (from the Washington D.C. office) and Herbert Smith Freehills (from the New York office).  Ethiopia was represented by a Washington D.C. based law firm Addis Law Group LLP (ALG). ALG has in the past successfully represented Ethiopia in several high-stakes international arbitration matters.