Next hearing of Hamilton Reserve Bank’s lawsuit against Sri Lanka on April 20

The United States District Court in the Southern District of New York has set dates to hear the lawsuit filed by Hamilton Reserve Bank seeking payment of defaulted International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) on April 20, following a failed attempt to get the case dismissed by the Sri Lankan government.

Commenting on the rejection to dismiss the case by the court, the Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Ministry in a statement this week stressed that there has been ‘no judgement on the merits of the claim’. 
“As a result of the court’s decision to deny Sri Lanka’s motion to dismiss, the case continues. There has been no judgement on the merits of the claim,” it said.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka filed an Answer on April 7, this year, denying the liability of Hamilton Reserve Bank’s claim.
“The court has set a status conference for April 20, 2023. Sri Lanka looks forward to discussing the case with the court on that date,” the statement said.

Hamilton Reserve Bank on June 21, last year, launched legal action against the Government of Sri Lanka, in response to the country’s failure to repay a US $ 1 billion ISB due on July 25, last year. 

According to court records, Sri Lanka owed a total of US $ 257,539,331.25 in principal and interest payments.

On September 21, last year, the Sri Lankan government filed a motion to dismiss the complaint filed by Hamilton Reserve Bank for bond default.

Following Sri Lanka’s motion to dismiss that initial complaint, Hamilton Reserve Bank amended the initial compliant, dropping the pari passu claims and asserted a single claim for non-payment of the defaulted bond.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint on November 4, last year, which the court denied on March 24, this year.