ConocoPhillips-styled Indian overseas assets seizure to collect $1.4 bn Cairn award

New Delhi: Just like US oil firm ConocoPhillips grabbed Venezuelan assets overseas to enforce an arbitration award, Indian bank accounts, airplanes and other foreign properties can be seized to collect USD 1.4 billion awarded to UK’s Cairn Energy against Indian retro tax, according to a letter seen by PTI.

The British firm has begun identifying overseas Indian assets in case the Indian government fails to honour the arbitration award.

Cairn CEO Simon Thomson in the January 22 letter to Indian High Commissioner in London, with copies marked to Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the arbitration award is “final and binding” and “the Government of India has an obligation to comply with its terms.”