Dubai's Mina Corp. has condemned what it called an "illegal campaign" by Kyrgyz authorities to expropriate its business in the country.
Mina supplies the jet fuel used at Manas Transit Center, a U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan used by U.S. military aircraft flying between Afghanistan and Europe.
"The Prime Minister (Almazbek Atambayev) is apparently not content with his government's deal with the U.S. to install a Kyrgyz/Russian state-owned joint venture that will take over up to 50 percent of Mina's contract with the U.S. Department of Defense," Dean Peroff of Amsterdam and Peroff, Mina's international legal counsel, said. "Now they want it all.
"Mina continues to be the focus of a state-sponsored corporate raid to force it out of business in Kyrgyzstan. This type of attack makes heavy use of disinformation and 'black PR' to discredit a target company."
Added William Burck of Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP, Mina's Washington legal counsel: "Prime Minister Atambayev's latest statement is part of an ongoing campaign of illegal harassment and threats against Mina Corp. The Kyrgyz government is in breach of its legal commitments to protect foreign investment from expropriation and refrain from interfering with U.S. contractors supplying the Manas Transit Center."
Atambayev, during a visit to Russia Friday, said the Kyrgyz government intends to seize control of all jet fuel supplies to U.S. forces in Kyrgyzstan.
Mina said the rationale was that Mina was "backed" by Maksim Bakiyev, son of the former president of the Kyrgyz Republic who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2010.
The U.S. Congress conducted an eight-month investigation into the allegation and concluded that there was no credible evidence to support it, Mina said.
Atambayev, in a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, was reported to have outlined a proposed state-owned joint venture that would take complete control of jet fuel supplies to U.S. planes. The fuel would come solely from Russian sources.
Kyrgyzstan is a former republic of the Soviet Union.
Mina Corp. is part of an international group of companies with trading operations on several continents.
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