Fire at Jakarta office may disrupt preparation for arbitration case: Churchill

By Romel S. Gurky

UK-based mining group Churchill Mining PLC said that a major fire occurred on Monday at the Wisma Kosgoro building in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the offices of the company's Indonesian subsidiary PT Indonesia Coal Development (ICD) are located.

The company said in a statement Thursday fire was eventually extinguished by midday on Tuesday and the company understands that building inspections are currently in progress.

Initial reports indicate that the fire has extensively damaged a number of floors in the Wisma Kosgoro building, including the floor on which ICD's offices are located. At this time it is unclear when or indeed if ICD will be able to return to these offices, it said.

David Quinlivan, Chairman, commented, "Whilst this fire will result in some disruption as we prepare for the next phase of our ICSID arbitration case against the Republic of Indonesia, our primary concern is for the safety of our employees and in this regard I am happy to advise that all ICD's Jakarta office employees are safe and well."

Churchill filed last year a lawsuit with the ICSID tribunal against the Indonesian government following the revocation of the mining licenses of the East Kutai coal project in East Kalimantan, in which Churchill and Planet held a 75 percent interest.

In September of last year, Indonesian police raided the Churchill Jakarta offices and seized various documents and computers belonging to the company. The company then sought for court ruling to allow it access to the documents and computers.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak