Lithuania's Skyroad Leasing has reiterated its claim that Tajik Air (7J, Dushanbe) has failed to pay an outstanding debt of USD20 million, for which it won a Vilnius Commercial Arbitration Court case in April 2018. However, the airline responded by stating it did not agree with the claim, pointing to a subsequent Dushanbe City Court ruling that did not recognise the Vilnius court's decision, the Tajik Telegraph Agency reported.
Skyroad Leasing, which was known as AviaAM B03 until 2014, had dry-leased two Boeing aircraft to the Tajik flag carrier from 2009, but the partners' paths diverged due to a dispute over alleged outstanding leasing payments and interest.
Zafar Khafizov, a lawyer authorised to represent the airline and Tajikistan's Ministry of Transport during the 2018 court case, failed to participate in the hearings, leading to a fiasco in court, according to the country's Asia-Plus news agency. After the Lithuanian court's decision, an appeal by the airline was rejected. On top of the USD20 million, the court demanded USD84,000 from the airline in legal costs.
On June 10, 2019, a Tajik official told Asia-Plus that Khafizov had been accused of misappropriating USD19,000 in Tajik Air funds, adding that he had not been working as a lawyer at the ministry for more than a year and did not know his current whereabouts.
The only state-owned aviation company in Tajikistan, Tajik Air has been experiencing economic difficulties for years. In January 2019, it grounded all six of its aircraft (one each of a B737-300, B737-400, B757-200, B767-300, CRJ200LR, and MA-60), furloughed most of its staff, and suspended all flights. It is currently in the process of a government-led restructuring.
In early June, Russia's federal air transport regulator (Rosaviatsia) filed a lawsuit at the Moscow Arbitration Court demanding the recovery of a debt of around USD555,000 from Tajik Air for unpaid air navigation services, RIA Novosti reported at the time. A hearing in that case is scheduled for July 11.
