Belgrade High Court has upheld a May 2000 judgment of a lower court and ordered a Yugoslavian bank to pay more than US$46.9 million to a Greek conglomerate.

The bank, Jugobanka, had guaranteed letters of credit issued in favour of Mytilineos Holdings S.A. The guarantees related to the satisfactory performance and other obligations of the Trepca mining and metallurgical complex in Kosovo and the state export company Genex in Belgrade. Mytilineos successfully applied for the letters of credit to be forfeited in August 1999 after operations were disrupted during the Kosovo conflict.

The terms of the guarantee were bound in five-year contract signed by Mytilineos and Jugobank in 1997. Mytilineos terminated the contract claiming its counterparties were in breach of contract and subsequently requested payment from Jugobank. The bank did not comply with the request.

The 22 January 2001 ruling of the Belgrade court is final and enforceable according to a statement issued by Mytilineos. Jugobank must pay US$46.9 plus statutory interest since August 1999.

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