Churchill Mining plc Churchill's claim against Indonesia struck out (1856R)
December 07 2016 - 3:45AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMCHL
RNS Number : 1856R
Churchill Mining plc
07 December 2016
7 December 2016
AIM: CHL
CHURCHILL MINING PLC
("Churchill" or "the Company")
CHURCHILL'S CLAIM AGAINST INDONESIA STRUCK OUT
The Directors of Churchill Mining plc (AIM:CHL) advise that
earlier today the ICSID Tribunal ("Tribunal") granted Indonesia's
application to dismiss the Churchill claims for damages arising out
of the revocation of the mining licenses that made up the East
Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan ("EKCP") Indonesia.
The Tribunal's decision has included the following
findings:-
(1) Thirty four (34) disputed documents were held to be not authentic;
(2) The forger of the disputed documents was most likely a
person or persons acting for or on behalf of Churchill's Indonesian
partner the Ridlatama group in collusion with a person inside the
East Kutai Regency;
(3) There was no finding that Churchill or its officers were involved in any forgery;
(4) Churchill's due diligence investigations conducted at the
time of acquiring the East Kutai Coal licenses were
insufficient;
(5) The claims brought by Churchill in this arbitration are dismissed; and
(6) Churchill is ordered to pay a total of USD 9,446,528 in
costs and arbitration tribunal fees.
Churchill Chairman David Quinlivan said "We are obviously
extremely disappointed by the Tribunal's decision and the fact that
the Tribunal drew no adverse inferences against Indonesia following
the refusal by Mr Isran Noor to attend the August 2015 hearing so
that he could be cross-examined and the refusals by Indonesia to
provide documents that the Tribunal itself considered prima facie
relevant. While we are still reviewing the reasons, the Tribunal
appears to have accepted that Mr Noor was deceived into signing the
exploitation licenses despite his non-appearance and his witness
statement having been struck from the record. Indonesia has always
conceded that the EKCP exploitation licenses were validly issued
and signed and it is difficult to understand how the Tribunal found
otherwise on the evidence available."
The ICSID process allows Churchill to request annulment of the
award by an application in writing addressed to the
Secretary-General on the following grounds:
(i) that the Tribunal was not properly constituted;
(ii) that the Tribunal has manifestly exceeded its powers;
(iii) that there has been a serious departure from a fundamental
rule of procedure; or
(iv) that the award has failed to state the reasons on which it
is based.
Churchill believes there are grounds to annul this award and is
working with its lawyers Clifford Chance LLP to determine which of
the above grounds may be available. As part of that application,
Churchill would seek a stay of the costs orders that have been
made.
As referred to above, Churchill has been ordered to pay a total
of USD 9,446,528 in costs and arbitration tribunal fees and
accordingly the suspension in trading of the Company's shares on
AIM will remain in place pending clarification of the Company's
financial position
A full copy of the Tribunal decision on Indonesia's forgery
dismissal application will be available on the Company's website
www.churchillmining.com and the website of the International Centre
for Settlement of Investment Disputes at
https://icsid.worldbank.org/apps/ICSIDWEB/Pages/default.aspx (under
cases for "Churchill").
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Churchill Mining plc Northland Capital Partners Limited
David Quinlivan Nominated adviser
Nicholas Smith Edward Hutton/William Vandyk
Russell Hardwick Gerry Beaney
Broking
+ 61 8 6380 9670 John Howes
+44 (0)20 3861 6625
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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December 07, 2016 03:45 ET (08:45 GMT)
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