Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina came on stage today to warn that “vulture funds will never see Argentina kneeled down before their decisions”, in a straight message to US-based fund that issued a lawsuit in Ghana and achieved to detain Libertad navy training frigate.
During an international seminar held at the University of Buenos Aires’ Economics School, the official told reporters that “the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was already very clear about it when she said that we are not going to accept any blackmailing from vulture funds.”
The investment fund whose suit in Ghana was successful in detaining the ship, is NML Capital Limited, of Elliot Management, and alleges it is owed a total of US$370 million, for defaulted bonds from the 2001 crisis. These bonds remained unpaid after the bondholders rejected two bond-swaps offered by the government in 2005 and 2010.
Abal Medina’s remarks came as Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman will present today this issue to the UN’s Security Council and stated that “this legal action creates a worrisome precedent for global naval affairs, because the Ghanaian judge has decided not to respect the immunity of a military vessel, which is recognized by the international laws that Ghana adheres to.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald