The arbitration tribunal of Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has ruled for Indonesia against British national Rafat Ali Rizvi, effectively blocking any bid by the shareholder to sue the Indonesian government over the bailout case.

Attorney General Basrief Arief said that on July 16, the ICSID tribunal accepted the government's explanation that Rafat had no legal permit based on Law No. 1/1967 on foreign investment for his investment, "he said on Friday.

He added that the lack of permit precluded Rafat's claim of protection under the international Bilateral Investment Treaty, to which Indonesia and the United Kingdom are signatories. "Within this content, the tribunal also rejected Rafat's claim of protection under the most-favored-nation article of the bilateral investment treaty and ruled that the tribunal held no jurisdiction for arbitrating the case," he said.

Rafat Ali Rizvi, a multi-millionaire British citizen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court in 2010 after being accused of stealing assets from Bank Century.

On April 5, 2011, Rafat Ali Rizvi took the government before the ICSID arbitration tribunal for violating the bilateral investment treaty. Rafat also demanded the government pay a Rp.757 billion (USD 75 million) fine.

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