Churchill reports wider loss amid legal battle against RI
Friday, October 18 2013 - 01:45 AM WIB
Churchill Mining PLC suffered greater financial loss mainly due to the huge cost of arbitration proceeding filed against Indonesia over coal mining asset dispute.
The London-based firm reported on Thursday that pretax loss widened to US$11.6 million for the full-year period ending June 30 compared to $10.4 million in the same period of last year.
The company said in a statement that its administrative expenses increased 10 percent to $11.5 million from $10.3 million due to legal fees of $4.2 million for the company?s ongoing litigation process in Singapore and impairments of some assets hit the company.
Churchill filed in May of last year a Request for Arbitration at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Republic of Indonesia, alleging that Indonesia breached its obligations under the UK-Indonesia Bilateral Investment Treaty when licenses on the East Kutai coal project in Kalimantan were revoked.
?During the year the company continued actively to seek recovery of shareholder value by progressing the international arbitration against the Republic of Indonesia (ROI) at the ICSID in Washington DC (the Churchill Arbitration),? the statement said.
?Churchill's Australian subsidiary Planet Mining Pty Ltd (Planet), which via its 5 percent shareholding in PT Indonesia Coal Development also held an interest in the East Kutai Coal Project, filed a separate arbitration at the ICSID against the ROI pursuant to the Australia-Indonesia Bilateral Investment Treaty (the Planet Arbitration). The Churchill Arbitration and Planet Arbitration have subsequently been consolidated into a single proceeding,? it added.
In May 2013 a hearing took place to determine whether the Arbitral Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear Churchill's claims, following a challenge to the jurisdiction of the case made by Indonesia. There is no fixed date for the Arbitral Tribunal to deliver its decision on jurisdiction, the statement said.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak