14th Jan 2015 10:52
LONDON (Alliance News) - Churchill Mining PLC shares suffered on Wednesday after it said it will attend a document authenticity hearing in July to prove its paperwork is in order after the Indonesian government questioned the company's documents in an ongoing dispute.
Churchill shares were down 11% to 14.31 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
Churchill Mining is currently in dispute with Indonesia about getting compensation for the revocation of mining licenses relating to the East Kutai coal project in East Kalimantan, in which it has a 75% interest.
In August, the Indonesian government started making police raids of the company's Jakarta offices as part of an investigation into alleged license document forgery, seizing records and equipment in the process.
In November, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in the US agreed to a request by Indonesia to deal with issues of document authenticity as a preliminary matter.
Churchill said its solicitors, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan LLP, had filed a request for the tribunal to reconsider the decision. Churchill said Quinn Emanuel considers the order to be "legally unjustified" and argued it was "issued in contravention of the company's due process rights and constitutes an implicit endorsement of Indonesia's delaying tactics".
The Washington-based tribunal has ordered a document authenticity hearing to take place in July 2015, which will last four to five days and determine a number of issues.
The hearing is set to decide if documents owned by Churchill and seized by the Indonesian government, were in fact authentic.
It will study mining licenses and key documents that were issued with mechanically generated facsmile signatures by authorised representatives of Indonesia, and whether or not the generated signatures are legally binding in the country.
The hearing also will decide the position in law of the company and the government, including Churchill's estoppel regarding documents challenged by Indonesia.
In law, estoppel is a set of doctrines in which a court prevents a litigant from taking an action the litigant normally would have the right to take, in order to prevent an inequitable result.
"We remain confident there is no substance to the document authenticity allegations made by the Republic of Indonesia, and we look forward to having this issue dealt with so we can move ahead with having our claims determined." said Chairman David Quinlivan.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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