ICSID rejects all claims by Turkish investors against Uzbekistan

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has rejected all claims by Turkish investors against Uzbekistan in a case registered in 2018. The arbitral tribunal's ruling was issued on 26 October after more than five years of proceedings; the dispute concerned a food industry enterprise. This was reported by the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan.

The claimants were three Turkish nationals — Mehmet Zeki Obuz, Sevde Yilmaz and Huriye Obuz — and the Turkish company Obuzlar Gida, which was in the process of liquidation. They based their claims on the 1992 bilateral agreement between Uzbekistan and Turkey on the mutual protection of investments.

The tribunal was constituted in February 2022, and hearings on the merits of the dispute were held in Washington from 1 to 10 July 2024. Uzbekistan was represented by the Ministry of Justice and the international law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (Curtis), which opened an office in Tashkent in November 2023.

What specific measures the claimants challenged and what compensation they sought is not disclosed in public materials. The tribunal's ruling is final for the parties to the dispute.

In 2007 it was reported that Mehmet Zeki Obuz had been sentenced in Uzbekistan to 16 years in prison: he was accused of evading customs duties, value added tax and excise taxes, embezzlement and misappropriation of budget funds, and other crimes. According to the same reports, he arrived in Uzbekistan in 1995 and became one of the founders of the joint venture Sundus, and in 1998 was appointed its general director.