CASE OF KENZIE GLOBAL LIMITED LTD v. THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA
Violation of Article 6 - Right to a fair trial (Article 6 - Civil proceedings;Article 6-1 - Fair hearing)
Alvina Gyulumyan;Ján Šikuta;Johannes Silvis;Josep Casadevall;Luis López Guerra
5. The applicant is a company incorporated in the United Kingdom. 6. At the time of the events the applicant company was the creditor of company C. which, in its turn, was the creditor of company P. On 1 October 2005 the applicant company and company C. concluded an agreement by which the debt owed by company P. to company C. was assigned to the applicant company in lieu of the debt owed by company C. to the applicant company. 7. Later company P. became bankrupt and the insolvency procedure was commenced in its respect. On 10 May 2006 the applicant company requested that the Chişinău Economic Court allow it to replace company C. in the list of creditors of company P. In so doing, the applicant company relied on an agreement that it had concluded on 1 October 2005 with company C. 8. On 5 June 2006 the Chişinău Economic Court held a public hearing in the case and accepted the applicant company’s request. As a result the applicant company replaced company C. in the list of creditors of company P. with a debt of some 14,015,000 Moldovan lei (MDL) (the equivalent of some 901,000 euros (EUR)). 9. On 16 October 2006 company C. lodged an appeal against the above decision on the ground, inter alia, that the agreement of 1 October 2005 was faulty and that the persons who had signed it from both sides had acted ultra vires. 10. On 9 November 2006 the Supreme Court of Justice examined the appeal lodged by company C. in a hearing to which the applicant company had not been summoned to appear. The other parties participated in the hearing. The Supreme Court upheld the appeal and reversed the judgment of the lower court. In particular, the Supreme Court held that the person who had signed the agreement of 1 October 2005 on behalf of company C. had acted ultra vires, because at the relevant time she had been on maternity leave. The decision of the Supreme Court of Justice was final and the applicant company was excluded from the list of creditors of company P.