Enforcement of arbitration awards: estoppel and public policy

Knowles J in Stati v The Republic of Kazakhstan [2017] EWHC 1348 (Comm) was required to decide whether an application to enforce a foreign award under the New York Convention could be rejected on the grounds of public policy when the Swedish curial court had rejected a challenge to the award and a US enforcing court had refused to allow evidence of allegations of fraud in the arbitration.

The decision shows that English public policy is paramount in enforcement applications, and that the rulings of other countries on their own public policy does not create any form of issue estoppel.