Litigation Unlikely to Affect Bank's Financial Conditions
A total of 323 persons filed a suit against Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) on Jan. 14. Those are bereaved families of the victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the purpose of the suit is to transfer Iranian assets from the bank. The size of the suit is US$5.5 billion, equivalent to 26.6 percent of the equity capital of the bank. The competent court is the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Regarding the bombings, the plaintiffs won a damage suit in the United States in 2014 against the Iranian government. Based on it, they called for IBK to nullify or cancel fraudulent disposals related to the Iranian central bank’s account in IBK and transfer relevant assets to themselves.
“The claim of the plaintiffs is groundless according to U.S. laws and the result of the litigation is unlikely to significantly affect our financial conditions,” IBK explained, adding, “We will actively handle the matter with our legal representatives.”
The Iranian government said in July last year that South Korea was yet to pay US$7 billion in crude oil export proceeds and it might bring the case to the International Court of Justice. The money is currently in Iran’s accounts in IBK and Woori Bank with regard to U.S. sanctions on Iran.