Cairn CEO meets finance secretary over arbitration ruling

"We had a constructive dialogue and the dialogue is ongoing," Thomson told reporters after meeting Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CBDT Chairman P C Mody.

New Delhi: Nearly two months after it won an international arbitration tribunal ruling against the Indian government levying taxes retrospectively, Britain’s Cairn Energy Plc Chief Executive Simon Thomson on Thursday met top finance ministry officials in hope of quickly resolving the issue.

“We had a constructive dialogue and the dialogue is ongoing,” Thomson told reporters after meeting Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CBDT Chairman P C Mody and other tax officials. He refused to comment on what transpired at the meeting. “I can’t comment more on the meeting.”

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While government officials have hinted at filing an appeal against the December 21 ruling, Cairn shareholders have been pressing the company management to get the USD 1.4 billion the tribunal had ordered India to return.

Thomson had been seeking at a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and had even posted a video last week outlining his desire to meet her towards finding a quick resolution.

Cairn has threatened to seize Indian government assets overseas if New Delhi fails to return the value of the shares sold, dividend seized and tax refund withheld by the income tax department to recover part of the tax demand.

The firm has started identifying assets it could seize if the Indian government does not comply with the tribunal order. Sources have said that these could include airplanes and ships. Last week, it the filed cases in the US, the UK and the Netherlands courts to register the arbitration award, a prelude to seeking legal seizure of assets.