Ministry's lawyer ask court to summon Newmont
Friday, June 3 2005 - 02:14 AM WIB
The lawyer, Bambang Widjojanto, said he had requested the court to ask Newmont to be present so that he could ask the firm what was the way to solve the dispute between the government and the firm after the mediation efforts had failed.
"Based on the existing rules, since the mediation has failed, we must come back to the court to settle the dispute," Bambang told the Koran Tempo on Thursday in Jakarta.
Bambang earlier announced that the mediation effort to solve the dispute out of the court had failed since Newmont's representatives had never came to the mediation session at the Office of Attorney General. The ministry has sued the firm for polluting the Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi.
According to Bambang, there are two alternatives for the ministry to settle the dispute. The first one is to negotiatie in the so-called mediation process for an out court settlement, while the court continues examining the case.
The second one is to ask the court to stop examining the case and both Newmont and the ministry start negotiations for an final out-of-court settlement.
If Newmont agreed to negotiate for a final out-of-court settlement, the government will ask for US$117 million compensation from Newmont, he said
Bambang also dismissed the impressino that the government is begging for money from Newmont
"This impression is not correct. Our position is to win," Bambang said.(*)