Ambito Financiero
Moves by vultures Ghana
Thursday, October 04, 2012
The
government pointed at the vulture fund NML Elliott over the court
decision that allowed the detaining of the Frigate Libertad in Ghana.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the fund “crossed a new limit in its
attacks against Argentina” and accused that organization of maintaining
“extortive and aggressive” attitudes against the country.
«The
vulture funds have crossed a new limit in their attacks on the
Argentine Republic. The Frigate Libertad has been held in the Republic
of Ghana over a recourse filed by the NML Group before the courts of
that country,” said the Foreign Ministry.
In
a statement, the team led by Hector Timerman confirmed also that they
had begun actions with the government of Ghana “to clarify the deception
that the unscrupulous financiers have mounted, through a measure that
is a violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity.” The
ministry recalled that the vulture fund NML has its headquarters in the
Cayman Islands, “a tax lair that it is worth recalling is a colony of
Great Britain, from where those who don’t submit to the laws of any
jurisdiction operate, and have been denounced both by the G-20 and the
United Nations.”
The
NML Group, the ministry recalled, belongs to “international speculator”
Paul Singer and is “the main financier of the lobby that operates in
the courts and the Congress of the United States” under the name ATFA.
Clarin
Foreign Ministry intervenes in the recovery of the Frigate Libertad
Thursday, October 04, 2012
By Natasha Niebieskikwait
While
the Foreign Minister sent off a statement reporting in singular
language that it had asked the government of Ghana to release the
Frigate Libertad, it was negotiating against the clock over the amount
of a bail. The goal: the recover the symbolic ship in what was a
resounding blow from the vulture funds, who managed through Ghanaian
courts to grant an attachment of US$284 million plus another US$91
million in interest.
Clarin
learned from very high level sources of the government – stuck
yesterday in the conflict with the Border Police, the Coast Guard and
the Armada – it is desperate because it doesn’t want to nor can it pay
the attachment now. But at the same time every day the Frigate spends
in the port of Tema – where it arrived on Monday – the Argentine state
must pay USS$49,000 in port charges.
As
Clarin reported exclusively yesterday, the detention order on the
emblematic teaching vessel of the Navy came from the Superior Court from
the African country which has prohibited its movement from the port.
It departed on June 2 from Buenos Aires with 300 people on board. Its
detention was demanded by NML Capital Ltd., of Elliott Management, and
Huntlaw Corporate Service, which represents investment funds that didn’t
enter the foreign debt swap and is seeking to collect on court
decisions in its favor obtained in New York courts. Until last night,
the Foreign Ministry was not reporting on the ship’s status nor that of
its crew, while they were given a strict order not to talk to the
press. The same instruction was given to the diplomats at the Argentine
embassy in Nigeria which attends to Argentine affairs in Ghana.
On
Tuesday night in an interview with Clarin, authorities said that didn’t
have “any information”, but the team of Hector Timerman issued a heated
statement in which it called the detention of the ship a “devious
attack from the vulture funds against Argentina.” It said that it was
due to a recourse from NML Group and that the ministry was making
gestures to “clarify the deception that the unscrupulous financiers have
mounted.” The Ghanaian court measure is “a violation of the Vienna
Convention.”
The
statement is full of parallel content like the fact that it defines the
Cayman Islands as a “tax lair” – the home of NML Group – and recalls
that it is a “colony of Great Britain.”
La NacionThe Frigate Libertad, detained in Africa
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The
government acknowledged yesterday that the Frigate Libertad, the
teaching vessel of the Argentine Armada, has been detained in Ghana, on
the western coast of Africa, out of a judicial recourse filed by a fund
that hold Argentine bonds and didn’t enter the swap of debt in default.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry said that the judicial measure is a
“devious attack” from the “vulture funds” made up of “unscrupulous
financiers”.
The
government said that the “lobbyists” that brought about the retention
of the sailing vessel were those who “harassed” President Cristina
Kirchner during her stay last week in New York, during the United
Nations summit.
Sources from the navy said that the ship could resume its instructional voyage today with a destination of Luanda, Angola.
The
director general of the port authority of Ghana, Richard Anamoo,
confirmed that the ship was detained “by order of the Court”, according
to AFP. Anamoo said that “it is not that authorities of Ghana that have
taken the decision to halt or detain the ship, but it has come from a
judicial order. The owners of the ship have to pay the money or defend
themselves before the court.”
For
Argentina – according to the statement issued yesterday by the Foreign
Ministry – “the vulture funds have crossed a new limit in their attacks”
on the country.
The
official statement said that the Frigate Libertad was delayed by a
recourse from NML Group, who it said was made up of “unscrupulous
financiers that have mounted a deception.” It said that it was a
violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity.
The
Foreign Ministry said that “the vulture fund NML is based in the Cayman
Islands, a tax lair that is a colony of Great Britain, from where those
who do not submit to laws of any jurisdiction operate, and who have
been denounced before the G-20 and the United Nations.” It said that
NML “belongs to the international speculator Paul Singer and is the main
financier of the lobby that operates in the courts and the Congress of
the United States under the name of ATFA (Task Force Argentina) to
damage our country.”
According
to the government, that group “disseminates false information for the
use of some Argentine monopolistic press media with the goal of
extorting Argentina with the ends of obtaining usurious profits from the
purchase of Argentine bonds for pennies during the 2001 crisis and
refusing to join the 93% of investors that agreed to the debt
restructuring.”
And
it said, in its accusation: “That group of lobbyists are the same that
tried to harass President [Cristina Kirchner] during her recent trip to
the United States, handing out aggressive fliers against the
presidential investiture.” It said that “another of its actions” was
“to place a gigantic rate in the doorway of the Argentine embassy in
Washington while our independence day was being celebrated.”
But
it warned that “it’s the decision of President Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner not to bow to the international and local extortive attempts
brought forth by the vulture funds, and will continue to denounce them
in various forums.”
El Cronista
Foreign Ministry: ‘Vulture funds have crossed a new limit’”
Thursday, October 04, 2012
The
government characterized as a “devious attack” by the vulture funds the
detention in Ghana, Africa, of the Frigate Libertad, by a judicial
recourse filed in that country by the holders of bonds that didn’t enter
the swap of debt in default.
Through
a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that “the lobbyists that brought
forth the detention of the itinerate ship were those who harassed
President Cristina Fernández in her stay last week in New York.”
“The
vulture funds have crossed a new limit in their attacks on the
Argentine Republican,” the Foreign Ministry said in the document, in
which it made reference to the Frigate Libertad “having been delayed in
the Republic of Ghana by a recourse filed by NML Group in the courts of
that country.”
On
that, the ministry warned that it already had taken steps with the
government of the African nation to clarify the deception that “the
unscrupulous financiers have mounted” and warned that “said measure is a
violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity.”
The
bondholders are trying to attach the Frigate so that, this way, they
can collect on rulings obtained in their favor in the New York courts.
The
Foreign Ministry explained further that the fund is headquartered in
the Cayman Islands, from where “those who don’t submit to laws of any
jurisdiction operate and have been denounced both before the G-20 as
well as the United Nations. This group belongs to international
speculator Paul Singer and is the main financier of the lobby that
operates in the courts and the Congress of the United States with the
name ATFA (Task Force Argentina) to damage the country.”
As
such, from the Armada they said that the ship could depart today,
continuing its instructional voyage with the destination of Luanda,
Angola.
Pagina/12
Pirate speculators approaching
Thursday, October 04, 2012
The
teaching vessel of the Argentine navy was victim of a maneuver of one
of the big funds that eluded the swap to speculate with a bigger benefit
in the courts. The authorities of Ghana promised a resolution in two
days.
“The
vulture funds have crossed a new limit in their attacks on the
Argentine Republic,” said the Foreign Ministry yesterday through a press
release. The new offensive from these financial pressure groups this
time affected the frigate Libertad, a teaching vessel of the Argentine
Armada, which was delayed two days ago in the Republic of Ghana “by a
recourse filed by NML Group before the courts of that country.” NML
Capital Limited, of the financial mega-magnate Paul Singer, and Huntlaw
Corporate Service, a group that legally represents these kinds of funds,
asked for the detention of the ship to collect on what it claims from
the courts of New York, where they obtained a favorable ruling for its
holdings of defaulted Argentine bonds. From the Foreign Ministry they
explained to this newspaper that Foreign Minister Hector Timerman
communicated with his counterpart in Ghana. “The latter sent his
apologies and promised that in two days the issue will be resolved,”
said the source, playing down the drama of the facts, also saying that
they are “assets not subject to embargo.”
The
ship sailed on June 2 from the port of Buenos Aires, starting its
traditional graduation voyage with the usual crew of 220 men and women,
together with 110 students. It’s a habitual passage around the entire
Atlantic, arriving in different countries in South America, Europe and
Africa. This opportunity was the first in which the ship would visit
Ghana, Angola and Namibia. However, in the first of these destinations
it received the order from the local Superior Court to delay the ship in
the capital of the old English colony, in response to a filing from the
vulture funds.
According
to families of the crew, the personnel are not allowed to set foot on
dry land. “The crew is in a form of detention, they are not allowed to
come onto land and this situation could be prolonged for ten days,” said
Noemí Chocci, mother of one of the graduates, in a conversation with a
radio station in the interior. According to her, there is no direct
communication: “You have to call the Libertad building, and then you can
communicate with the frigate.”
The
ministry led by Timerman, through a statement, argued that it’s a
“devious attack” from the “vulture funds”, using false information.
“The vulture fund NML has its base in the Cayman Islands, a tax lair
that is a colony of Great Britain, from which those who don’t submit to
laws of any jurisdiction operate and have been denounced both to the
G-20 and the United Nations,” said the text written by the ministry.
“It puts out false information for the use of some Argentine
monopolistic press media with the goal of extorting Argentina with the
end of obtaining usurious profits from the purchase of Argentine bonds
for pennies during the 2001 crisis, and refusing to join the 93% of
investors that agreed to the debt restructuring,” the statement added.
“Said
measure is a violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic
immunity,” the ministry complained, confirming that it has already
initiated “moves with the government of the African nation to clarify
the deception that the unscrupulous financiers have mounted.” Timerman
was calm on the issue getting a rapid resolution, after taking up the
issue with his Ghanaian counterpart, who’d assured him that he’d
intercede with the court of his country.
After
the two Argentine debt restructurings, the so-called vulture funds
ended up with 8% of the debt in default, and are suing to get
recognition of the totality of the technical value of their holdings –
some US$3.6 billion – and interest. These funds operate from tax havens
so as to not pay taxes and their work consists of weakening the image
of countries until they obtain a ruling from some permeable court that
agrees with them, which they’ve done thanks to the resources that
circulate in the lobbying of the U.S. Congress and in the media. “That
group of lobbyists are the same that tried to harass the President
during her recent trip to the United States, handing out aggressive
fliers against the presidential investiture,” the ministry said.
In
response to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, American Task Force
Argentina (ATFA) accused Argentina of “mocking the law.” ATFA is the
façade for the lobby of NML and EM in Washington. The entity has as its
president Robert Shapiro, an ex-official of the Clinton administration,
now a representative of the interests of the vulture funds. ATFA’s
actions against Argentina represent a lobby expenditure of more than
US$3 million, and they managed to temporarily freeze funds of the
Central Bank and Banco Nacion in New York. Between 2007 and 2010 the
government avoided flying the official plane Tango 01 to the United
States and Germany so that it would not be attached.
Financial Times
Thursday, October 04, 2012
By Kate Mackenzie
An
Argentine naval vessel crewed by more than 200 sailors has been seized
in Ghana as part of an attempt by the US hedge fund Elliott Capital
Management to collect on bonds on which Buenos Aires defaulted in 2001.
A
Ghanaian court ordered an injunction and interim preservation order
against the ARA Libertad, a 100-metre long tall ship, following an
application by Elliott subsidiary NML Capital on Tuesday.
The
hedge fund, run by the US billionaire Paul Singer, has been closely
monitoring the course of the Libertad, according to sources familiar
with the firm.
Bloomberg
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
By Eliana Raszewski
Argentina’s
Foreign Ministry accused a Ghanaian court of violating rules of
diplomatic immunity after it blocked an Argentine naval training ship
from leaving one of the African nation’s ports.
The
ruling, in response to a petition from NML Capital Ltd., an investment
fund that owns Argentina’s defaulted bonds, has been challenged by the
South American nation’s government, the ministry said in an e-mail
statement today.
Argentina won’t give in to “attempts at international and local extortion by vulture funds,” the ministry said.
NML
and other holders of bonds that weren’t swapped in two restructurings
of the $95 billion of debt on which Argentina defaulted in late 2001,
are seeking to recover the full value of the securities. About 94
percent of the defaulted bonds were restructured in 2005 and 2010,
giving creditors about 30 cents on the dollar.
Business Insider
Thursday, October 04, 2012
By Joe Weisenthal
The above ship is the ARA Libertad, a training ship owned by the Argentine navy.
And now it's been seized. By a hedge fund. While it was docked in Ghana.
Why?
Because Argentina is in a long legal battle with the hedge fund Elliott
Capital Management, which has been trying for years and years to get
Argentina to pay a 2001 bond it owes in full. Because it's recently won a
court judgment saying that Argentina owes it money, it was able to get
an injunction from the government of Ghana saying it's entitled to pay
the ship.
The FT's Sam Jones and Jude Webber report:
The
hedge fund, run by the US billionaire Paul Singer, has been closely
monitoring the course of the Libertad, according to sources familiar
with the firm.
Elliott
had been waiting for the ship to stop in a port where it would have a
chance to enforce legal judgments previously awarded by UK and US
courts. The hedge fund declined to comment.
