LONDON (Alliance News) – Churchill Mining PLC Tuesday denied that it had ever forged any documents, after Indonesian police raided its Jakarta offices while the company was in Singapore reviewing documents related to its mining licenses dispute with the Indonesian government.
The company has had its mining licenses for the East Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, revoked. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes has been arbitrating on the dispute and ordered the review of a bundle of documents relating to the licenses.
While the company was meeting with Indonesian government officials to review the bundle in Singapore, Indonesian police raided its Jakarta office and seized a number of documents, computers and back up drives supposedly as part of a new police investigation into alleged license document forgery, the company said in a statement.
“It is the company’s view that this police raid was strategically timed to harm and prejudice the company’s case currently being heard by the Tribunal,” Churchill said.
“With regard to Indonesia’s resurfaced allegations of document forgery, the company categorically denies that it ever participated in or that it was ever in any way involved in the forgery of any documents,” it added.
Churchill has asked the Tribunal to recommend that Indonesia return the documents and hardware seized by the police in the Jakarta raid, and to then refrain from activities that could aggravate, alter of jeapordise the dispute proceedings.
Churchill also accused Indonesian police of intimidating its Jakarta office staff and its arbitration witnesses, pulling them in as witnesses in the document forgery allegations probe. Indonesia, meanwhile, has requested the Tribunal hears a separate case relating to the document forgery allegations, Churchill said.
“It is the company’s view Indonesia has lodged this application in a calculated attempt to derail the procedural timetable in the arbitration proceedings as is absurd for Indonesia to claim, as it has, that its application could be ruled on while preserving the current procedural schedule, under which Indonesia is due to file its full Counter Memorial on the merits on 12 November 2014,” it said.
Churchill has filed objections against the Indonesian request for a stand-alone case with the Tribunal.
Churchill Mining shares were down 14.3% at 24.00 pence Tuesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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Sumber : http://www.lse.co.uk/AllNews.asp?code=i8z5s6fn&headline=Churchill_Minings_Indonesian_Arbitration_Case_Runs_Into_Problems