"We would accept securities for costs in the sum of£30,000 ." 13. "
"We must of course reserve our position should our estimated costs prove to be insufficient."
"It has been apparent from our earlier discussions regarding security that your clients' request was for security for costs in respect of the Commercial Court proceedings as a whole. It was not a request for security to any particular stage in the proceedings. Additionally our fax of 14th September makes it plain that the agreement in respect of the provision of security for costs in respect of the entirety of the proceedings; and in a matter of this nature one would not expect otherwise. Accordingly we cannot accept that it is now open to your clients to reserve their position 'should our estimate of costs prove to be insufficient'. Agreement has been reached on the terms set out in our fax of 14 September."
"Thank you for returning to us a copy of our fax to you of 5th October confirming, in manuscript, that the security of£30,000 is to cover the entirety of the Commercial Court proceedings. For our part we confirm that the security is not intended to extend to any proceedings by way of appeal from the Commercial Court decision. This is not to be taken as any acknowledgment that your clients would be entitled to security in respect of any such appeal. We look forward to receipt of your clients' evidence."
"(1) that trial shall be a full re-hearing of the question of jurisdiction and shall not be restricted to a review of the arbitrator's decision; and (2) that the evidence shall not be restricted to that evidence which was before the arbitrators."
"The reality of the matter, as it seems to me, is that Mr Page made a bargain with Mr Warne in relation to security for costs for the entirety of the application at a time when the scope of the application had not been mapped out at any case management conference, which has turned out, from Istil's point of view, to be a poor one."
"The discretion of the court is, subject to the provisions of the second half ofs.70(6) of the Arbitration Act 1966 , in terms unfettered. But, in my view, when the parties have, through their solicitors, agreed that a particular figure shall be the security to be provided in respect of the application, it is wrong in principle for the Court, save perhaps in wholly exceptional circumstances, to make an order for further security unless the agreement that they have made is void or voidable for mistake or misrepresentation or is not applicable in the circumstances that have developed."
"32. I have considerable sympathy, therefore, with the position in which Istil find themselves, particularly since, but for that agreement, I would have taken the view that there had been a significant and relevant change of circumstances since October 2004 justifying the further provision of security. Since then, it has become apparent that the sort of figures that were then in play are quite inadequate in the light of the form that the hearing of the applications is now to take, involving a full hearing of the issues with expert evidence of Kazak and French law and with the hearing likely to take twice as long as then anticipated. I do not regard the fact that it was foreseeable that the Republic and indeed Istil might rely on further factual and expert evidence, the latter to be given orally, as meaning that there was no relevant change in circumstances when they came to indicate that they would do so. The shape and format of this application has grown over the months that followed the agreement in 2004. The CMC hearing made it clear that there was to be a rehearing, not a review. The issues have appeared more clearly from the experts' reports, and even though the overall issues have not changed, the formulation and presentation of the case has significantly altered. That seems to me to constitute a sufficient change of circumstances to justify an order, absent the agreement to which I have referred. 33. I would also have thought it appropriate to make such an order as a matter of discretion. It seems to me that Istil is likely to have very serious difficulties in enforcing any order for costs in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has a troubled financial history. In view of the history of these proceedings and similar proceedings brought by MNR Metals Sweden, where judgment has been granted on appeal without a stay, and a substantial sum of money has been unpaid for a considerable period of time (albeit that in November an application was made to the Supreme Court for a review which has still not been addressed) I have grave doubts whether or not Istil will be able to recover costs awarded to them in the absence of security being provided. It seems to me reasonable to anticipate that every possible argument of immunity, jurisdiction, state decree, and the like, is likely to be put in their way, and indeed that they could spend as much as they have incurred in costs in chasing those costs in Kazakhstan, particularly in the absence of any reciprocal enforcement treaty."
"The court may order the applicant or appellant [that includes an applicant or appellant under section 67 and section 68] to provide security for the costs of the application or appeal, and may direct that the application or appeal be dismissed if the order is not complied with. The power to order security for costs shall not be exercised on the ground that the applicant or appellant is - (a) an individual ordinarily resident outside the United Kingdom, or (b) a corporation or association incorporated or formed under the law of a country outside the United Kingdom, or whose central management and control is exercised outside the United Kingdom."
"... in my view, when the parties have, through their solicitors, agreed that a particular figure shall be the security to be provided in respect of the application, it is wrong in principle for the Court, save perhaps in wholly exceptional circumstances, to make an order for further security unless the agreement that they have made is void or voidable for mistake or misrepresentation or is not applicable in the circumstances that have developed."
"We must, of course, reserve our position should our estimate of costs prove to be insufficient."
"The upshot of that, as it seems to me, is that by14th October 2004 Richards Butler had agreed with Penningtons, each of them acting for their respective clients, by way of compromise of a disputed question as to whether security should be provided and, if so, in what amount; that the Republic would provide security in the sum of£30,000 to cover the entirety of the Republic's application to the Commercial Court but not any appeal therefrom and that the purported reservation of Istil's position should that estimate prove insufficient was inoperative."