Churchill requests ICSID to reconsider PO No 13

By Ruli Setiawan

London-listed Churchill Mining PLC said its solicitors, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, LLP, have filed a request that the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Tribunal reconsider Procedural Order No.13.

?Quinn Emanuel consider that PO No.13 is legally unjustified, was issued in contravention of the company's due process rights and constitutes an implicit endorsement of Indonesia's delaying tactics,? Churchill said in a statement Monday, providing update of its lawsuit against the government of Indonesia which has revoked the mining license relating to the East Kutai Coal Project in East Kalimantan, in which Churchill and its subsidiary Planet Mining Pty Ltd held a 75 percent stake.

On November, 2014, the Tribunal issued Procedural Order 13 (PO No. 13) which among others granted Indonesia's request for the reconsideration of Procedural Order 12; directed that the issue of document authenticity be considered as a preliminary matter; and issued a tentative schedule for the document authenticity phase.

The Tribunal has invited Indonesia to submit by December 1, 2014 its comments on the Churchill's request that the Tribunal reconsider PO No.13.

"We are concerned that PO No.13, as it currently stands, will delay the proceedings as a whole and accordingly have filed a request that the Tribunal reconsider its orders in PO No13. It continues to be the company's objective to have this case determined in the most expedient and efficient manner possible" said Churchill's Chairman David Quinlivan.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak