Argentina fined €1.33 billion for altering official statistics
The High Court of London condemned the Argentine State to pay €1.33 billion by endorsing a lawsuit filed by four vulture funds that accused the South American country of falsifying GDP growth statistics to the detriment of bonds called “GDP coupon”, local media reported.
“London Court ruled in favor of vulture funds in litigation over GDP Coupon”, reported the portal Ámbito Financiero.
The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by the funds Palladian Partners, HBK Master Fund, Hirsh Group, and Virtual Emerald International Limited, which hold 48% of the GDP-linked securities issued between 2005 and 2010.
The vulture funds demanded compensation for up to €643 million.
Still, Judge Simon Picken ruled that Argentina must pay €1.33 billion for accrued interest and the totality of securities tied to the GDP.
Argentina’s lawyers argued that the country paid almost 10 billion dollars to the holders of the “GDP coupon” since they were first issued in 2005, during the government of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), to exchange the debt that had been in default since 2001.
The GDP coupons guaranteed a return to bondholders when the country’s annual economic growth exceeded 3%.
In 2014, the then Minister of Economy and current governor of the province of Buenos Aires (east), Axel Kicillof, announced a change in the basis for calculating GDP, when in 2013, the reference year for that estimate had been changed from 2004 instead of 1993.
This week, Argentina suffered another judicial setback when US Judge Loretta Preska, of the Second Southern District of Manhattan, in New York held the Argentine State responsible for re-establishing the oil company YPF in 2012.
The judge upheld a lawsuit filed by the Burford Capital and Eton Park funds, which claimed that the Argentine State should have launched a takeover bid for the entire share capital of YPF and not only for 51%, according to the company’s bylaws.
With information from Sputnik
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