An Australian court has reserved its decision in an appeal which has seen a continuing freeze on Nauru's bank accounts.
The US-based fund management company Firebird has been trying to recover 27 million US dollars owed in government bonds issued in the late 1980s.
Earlier this month the Nauru government won a court challenge to the freeze on its accounts, saying as a sovereign nation it was immune and Firebird has been appealing against the decision.
Nauru has been unable to access its accounts pending the appeal which was heard this week by a three-judge bench of the New South Wales Court of Appeal.
Nauru says its services, including those for asylum seekers, would be affected without access to the money which includes aid funds from both Australia and New Zealand.
Photo: RNZ / Walter Zweifel
