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LONDON (Alliance News) - Churchill Mining PLC on Wednesday said the dispute over document authenticity in its legal case against the Republic of Indonesia is reaching the closing stages, but warned it is still unclear when the already lengthy dispute will be resolved.
Earlier this year, Churchill launched legal proceedings against Indonesia at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes based in Washington in the US, claiming the Indonesian government unlawfully revoked mining licences that had been awarded to Churchill for its East Kutai coal project, in which it held a 75% stake through its relationship with the Ridlatama Group.
At a hearing in Singapore held in early August, Indonesia claimed it had revoked the licences over concerns about the authenticity of the documents signed to acquire the exploitation mining licences.
The tribunal then posed questions to both Churchill and Indonesia, and asked each party to submit two briefs - one to answer questions from the tribunal and a second responding to the other parties' response to those questions. Both parties submitted the first brief replying to questions asked by the tribunal in October, with the second briefs being submitted in November.
Churchill said its argument stresses there is a "large and diverse body" of evidence that show the allegedly forged documents, as claimed by Indonesia, were in fact authorised by the regent of East Kutai at the time, and that Indonesia had failed to provide documents that the tribunal had demanded to see.
Churchill also argued that Indonesia failed to get a number of key regency officials to appear as witnesses in the case.
The former regent of East Kutai who is at the heart of the dispute, Isran Noor, refused to participate in the hearing, according to Churchill. That is significant as both the company and Indonesia agreed that Noor was the authority who awarded the licences to Churchill. The tribunal then ruled that any evidence provided by Noor had to be excluded because he would not attend the hearing, despite being potentially the most important witness in the case.
Earlier this year, Churchill said Indonesia believed Noor was "tricked or deceived" into signing the documents in question, with Churchill arguing that without the inclusion of Noor's evidence or the ability to question him as a witness, there is "no convincing evidence" to support the claims made by Indonesia.
That was followed by a U-turn by Indonesia in June when it dropped claims that Churchill had tried to defraud the country, but in another twist, Indonesia then made fresh allegations of forgery and fraud against Churchill.
The initial claim of forgery and fraud was made against Ridlatama, the company through which Churchill owns its stake in the project in question, with the second set of allegations being made directly at Churchill.
Churchill said the fresh claims made by Indonesia were not part of the original case and questions there validity.
"Indonesia has changed its case in this way despite the fact that, on two separate occasions before the August hearing, Indonesia represented that it was not accusing Churchill or its officers of fraud or forgery (written representations on which Churchill relied in the preparation of its case). Indonesia's fresh allegations were also not part of the case it presented at the August hearing," said Churchill on Wednesday.
"Essentially, Indonesia's fresh allegations focus on a single former Churchill executive (who was not present at the August hearing, and who Indonesia has never requested for cross-examination)," the company added.
Churchill said it responded to the latest allegations and highlighted that, despite years of police investigations, no company employee or any employees of Ridlatama had ever been charged in connection with the affair.
Churchill has also asked the tribunal to ban Indonesia from changing its claims, arguing that it would threaten the company's right to procedural fairness.
The filing of post-hearing briefs by both companies signals the close of arguments about the authenticity of documents used in the dispute.
The tribunal will now evaluate and analyse the briefs and will hand down a decision "in due course," said Churchill, but warned it does not know how long the tribunal will take to make its decision.
"We are pleased that oral and written arguments in the document authenticity phase are complete, and we look forward to the decision of the tribunal. We maintain our position that the Indonesia's allegations of forgery and fraud are baseless," said Chairman David Quinlivan.
"Indonesia has a bright future, but the reality is a number of foreign investors suffered during the period of regional autonomy, and Churchill is one of them. The sooner this dispute is resolved, the better it will be for all concerned," he added.
Churchill shares were up 3.9% to 16.75 pence per share late Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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