Court battle: German court rejects JS Bank’s claims

ISLAMABAD: A German court, following a hearing on January 21, has quashed its own injunction and rejected the claims of JS Bank Limited against Transparency International EV and ordered JS Bank to bear the costs of the proceedings. According to a press release, earlier Transparency International was facing in December 2013 an injunction from the German court, which was issued at the request of JS Bank and intended to restrain Transparency International from making or disseminating certain allegations concerning the bank in relation to a letter published on the website of Transparency International Pakistan. Transparency International is an association under the German law which is legally, organisationally and financially distinct from its national chapters which, among others, include Transparency International Pakistan. According to reports in December, JS Bank had won a preliminary injunction against Transparency International in Germany, restraining the latter from claiming and/or distributing or, respectively causing others to claim and/or distribute, with reference to JS Bank and its purchase of Pakistan operations of HSBC Bank, that HSBC received any payment regarding this transaction and that such payments may have been illegal as falsely claimed by TI Pakistan in a letter to the Governor of the Bank of England subsequently published on the Pakistan website. In case of non-compliance with this injunction, Transparency International may face a fine of up to 250,000 euros or imprisonment. This preliminary injunction was granted by the District Court of Berlin without hearing Transparency International. Later, Transparency International filed an objection against the injunction and a hearing took place in January. Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2014.