Argentina aims at bond "holdouts" ahead of court showdown

By Hugh Bronstein

BUENOS AIRES | Sat Feb 2, 2013 11:47am EST

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina has made its final written arguments ahead of a February 27 U.S. courtroom showdown against "holdout" bondholders demanding 100 cents on the dollar for debt that the South American country defaulted on more than a decade ago.

Oral arguments in the case, which could raise emerging market sovereign borrowing costs by complicating future restructurings, are set for the end of this month before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

Argentina wants the court to overturn a finding in favor of creditors led by NML Capital Ltd and the Aurelius Capital Management funds, known as holdouts because they did not participate in restructurings under which most holders of Argentine bonds accepted reduced terms in return for payment.

The case, in which the holdouts are asking for $1.33 billion, stems from Argentina's $100 billion debt default in 2002. It has been pursued in U.S. courts because they have jurisdiction under Argentina's bond contracts.

NML and Aurelius call it unfair for Argentina to pay investors who accepted restructured terms without paying them as well. Argentina dismisses the argument.

"For all plaintiffs' talk about 'equal treatment,' what they really want is ... to enforce their contractual right to be paid a defaulted debt," Argentina said in a filing made just before midnight on Friday.

"Any actual claim to 'equal treatment' would be satisfied by treating all holdout creditors on the same terms as the participants in the republic's 2010 exchange offer," it said.

"Anything else is not equal treatment, but a preference that would violate Argentine law and public policy as well as fundamental principles of inter-creditor equity," it argued.

The case is seen as having broad reach. In court papers last year, the U.S. government said that to award full payment to the holdouts could harm the finances of emerging market countries and throw a wrench into the international capital markets by complicating future sovereign debt restructurings.

NML and Aurelius refused to take part in Argentina's 2005 and 2010 restructurings, in which about 92 percent of holders received between 25 cents and 29 cents on the dollar.

The 2nd Circuit issued a decision in October finding that Argentina must treat all bondholders equally, rather than allow holders of restructured debt to have priority.

That upheld earlier decisions by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan, who oversees much of the litigation.

Then in November, Griesa ordered Argentina to pay $1.33 billion into escrow for the holdouts when it paid restructured bondholders. The 2nd Circuit put that order on hold so Argentina could appeal, setting the stage for the February 27 hearing.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases and Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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UN court clears Kosovo's ex-PM

29 November 2012 Last updated at 13:31 GMT Judge Bakone Moloto: "The chamber finds you not guilty on all counts in the indictment"

A UN tribunal has cleared Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes from the 1998-99 conflict, after a retrial in The Hague.

Mr Haradinaj, a rebel commander during the war, was accused of overseeing a campaign of torture and murder against Serbs and suspected collaborators.

But four years after the last acquittal the UN court ruled again that the prosecution had not proved the case.

Serbian officials reacted angrily, denouncing the UN tribunal.

President Tomislav Nikolic said in a statement that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was formed "to try the Serbian people".

He said the verdict would increase Euroscepticism in Serbia.

Continue reading the main story Kosovo regarded as an autonomous province within Yugoslavia from 1960s to 1980sYugoslav leader Slobodan Milosovic strips province of its privileges in 1989Low-level insurgency against Serbia erupts into violence in 1998Nato intervenes in 1999 and Kosovo becomes UN protectorate but remains legally part of SerbiaIn February 2008 Kosovo declares independence, but Serbia opposes the move, leaving Kosovo in legal limboMr Haradinaj's 2008 acquittal was overturned and a retrial ordered after appeal judges ruled that there had been witness intimidation.

But the ICTY's trial chamber once again cleared Mr Haradinaj and co-defendants Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj of all charges.

The indictment alleged the three men had been involved in a joint criminal enterprise to establish Kosovo Liberation Army control in western Kosovo through detention camps.

Ethnic Serbs, Roma and Albanians who were deemed to have collaborated with Serbs were allegedly tortured and killed.

Judge Bakone Moloto said the evidence established that Serbs and their suspected supporters were beaten at a KLA compound in Kosovo, and at least one of them had died of his injuries.

However, he said there was no evidence Mr Haradinaj or his co-defendants were involved in the attacks or a conspiracy to mistreat civilians.

Political ambitions

Mr Haradinaj, who is the most senior ethnic Albanian indicted by the ICTY, has many supporters among the Kosovo Albanian community.

He served as prime minister for 100 days before he stepped down in early 2005 to deal with his first trial.

Many in Kosovo regard Ramush Haradinaj as a hero and celebrated his acquittal

Crowds in the capital Pristina watched the latest verdict on a giant screen, and celebrated his acquittal by letting off fireworks and cheering.

Mr Haradinaj's lawyer, Ben Emmerson, said his client now wants to restart his political career.

"With the consent of the people, he will soon be resuming his rightful position as the political leader of the country," Mr Emmerson told reporters at the court.

His face is splashed across vast billboards in Kosovo, accompanied by slogans like "the leader who keeps his word" and "forward with a clean slate".

However, he is still considered a war criminal in Belgrade, and an arrest warrant has been issued against him by Serbia's war crimes prosecutor.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has enlisted the support of ally Russia to block any move for international recognition.

Many Serbs feel there has been little accountability for crimes committed against them during the wars of the 1990s.

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Colombia pulls out of world court

28 November 2012 Last updated at 18:09 GMT Juan Manuel Santos said the court's decision was riddled with mistakes and inconsistencies Colombia has announced it no longer recognises the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in The Hague.

The decision comes nine days after the ICJ redrew Colombia's maritime border in the Caribbean in favour of Nicaragua.

The court's ruling ended a decades-long dispute over the San Andres islands.

President Juan Manuel Santos said individual countries, and not courts of law, should fix their borders.

The ICJ ruled that the islands and a group of islets near the Nicaraguan coast in the western Caribbean belonged to Colombia.

But it set up new maritime borders in the potentially oil-rich area, extending Nicaragua's territory by some 70,000 square km (19,000 square miles).

The judgment, which is binding, was welcomed by Nicaragua but greeted with anger by President Santos.

'Peaceful means'

Mr Santos has now announced that Colombia is pulling out of the Bogota Treaty, signed in 1948, that recognises the court's rulings.

The region is rich in fishing resources, and potentially gas and oil

"The borders between nations cannot be in the hands of a court of law," he said. "They must be drawn by agreement between the countries involved."

Mr Santos reaffirmed he would only be using "peaceful means" to solve dispute.

The competing claims date from the early 19th Century, when the nations of Latin America were gaining their independence from Spain.

Nicaragua and Colombia signed a treaty in 1928 to settle the border and sovereignty of islands in the Caribbean.

But in 1980, Nicaragua's Sandinista government unilaterally annulled the agreement, arguing that it had been signed under US pressure.

In 2007, the ICJ ruled that the treaty was valid and that the sovereignty of three islands, San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, remained with Colombia.

The archipelago lies some 775km (480 miles) from the Colombian coast and 230km from Nicaragua.

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