Cairn gets ruling to freeze Indian assets in Paris

Britain’s Cairn Energy Plc has secured an order from a French court authorising the freezing of 20 Indian government properties in Paris valued at over 20 million euros, the London-based Financial Times reported Thursday.

The newspaper said it has seen official documents confirming the freeze authorised by the French court, and that Cairn’s asset freeze application in Paris is the first to succeed.

In May, Cairn initiated a process to seize Indian assets and brought a lawsuit in the US against Air India to enforce the $1.2-billion arbitration award it won last year against the Indian government in a longstanding tax dispute.