SH Invest Group LP is an oil logistics solutions company from the UK, and it is owned by SH Invest Group, which is an investment and oil trading group from the UAE. The company has just failed in its bid to delay the repayment of a debt of more than EUR 1 million to Orlen Lithuania, which is a Lithuanian oil import and refining company. The Lithuanian Court of Appeals refused to impose interim measures in response to the request.
“On September 27, the Court of appeals rejected the SH Invest Group LP request to suspend the implementation of a ruling from the Vilnius court of Commercial Arbitration until such time as the case is fully heard and a final court ruling is handed down,” Appeals Court spokeswoman Venta Valcackiene told BNS.
The arbitration court ruled on August 19 that SH Invest Group LP must pay Orlen Lithuania a “very large” sum of money, including around EUR 1 million in debt, plus annual interest payments and arbitration costs.
SH Invest Group LP claimed in its complaint that the ruling would have a disproportionately negative impact on its business and might well cause it to go bankrupt.
According to unconfirmed data, the debt relates to the unpaid value added tax on delivered goods, to interest payments, and to interest payments related to the sale and purchase agreement.
A spokesman for SH Invest Group LP, Egidijus Matonis, told BNS that he cannot comment on the dispute publicly.
Orlen Lithuania told BNS that it had contacted with the UK company to deliver goods to another EU country. According to the law, the zero VAT rate should have been applied, but in that case, SH Invest Group LP had to prove that the goods had been shipped out of Lithuania and delivered elsewhere. The company failed to do so, and so the Lithuanian firm had to pay the VAT.
“The company provided no evidence, so Orlen Lithuania had to adjust its invoices and pay the standard VAT rate of 21%, which it declared and paid into the national budget,” Orlen Lithuania told BNS.
The Lithuanian company added that when SH Invest Group LP refused to refund the tax payment, Orlen Lithuania went to the Vilnius Court of Commercial Arbitration and won.
Source: BNS
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