🕐11.04.11 - 19:27 Uhr
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) COURT RULES IN FAVOUR OF EL NINO (ELN) FOR BO
TH JUDGMENTS; DETERMINES GEORGES KAVVADIAS ACTED FRAUDULENTLY
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Re: News Releases - Monday, April 11, 2011
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) COURT RULES IN FAVOUR OF EL
NINO (ELN) FOR BOTH JUDGMENTS; DETERMINES GEORGES KAVVADIAS ACTED
FRAUDULENTLY
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OVERVIEW:
June 24, 2010: Litigation in the DRC Dismissed; El Nino Files $850,000
Counter Action Against Georges Kavvadias and GCP Group Ltd.
in Canada
for Breach of Agreement
August / September 2010 - El Nio files two judgments in the DRC
against George Kavvadias and GCP Group
October 1, 2010: El Nino charges Georges Kavvadias and GCP Group with
Fraud, Fraudulent Misrepresentation, Misappropriation of Funds, Breach
of Agreement and Claims for USD$ 850,000 + damages in the Supreme Court
of British Columbia by El Nino.
January 5, 2011 - El Nino reports that it received notice from the
Supreme Court of British Columbia of the hearing held on November 25,
2010 regarding its Notice of Dispute and Petition against George
Kavvadias and GCP Group.
Management believes the company was successful
by bringing the petition to the Supreme Court as the court determined
that these claims were to be decided through arbitration.
April 11, 2011: Announcement that DRC court rules in favour of El Nino
for two judgments against George Kavvadias.
April 11, 2011, Vancouver, Canada; -- Further to previous news
releases, El Nino reports that the Tribunal de Grande Instance in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has now rendered two decisions
against GEORGES KAVVADIAS, ruling in favour of El Nino.
The first decision declares null and void the minutes of the meeting by
virtue of which GEORGES KAVVADIAS appointed himself as manager of the
Joint Venture Company, Infinity Resources SPRL (Infinity), (El Nino 70%
and GCP 30%) (Foneco SPRL , the original permit holder for (PR)
5214(Kasala), 5125, 5216, and 5217 which are in close proximity to
Kasala.
The Kasala project is one of the first new Greenfields copper
discoveries in the last 10 years in this area of the central African
Copper belt.
El Nino is the operator of the Joint Venture Company.
In the second decision, the Court removed Mr.
Kavvadias as manager of
Infinity Resources and appointed an interim manager in order to call a
shareholders meeting within two weeks of the parties being notified of
the judgments in order to appoint the new managers of Infinity..
In
both cases, Georges Kavvadias was ordered to pay damages to El Nino and
all costs.
>From the French translation of the first judgment, The Supreme Court of
Justice went further in ruling that, "Whereas it was thus by design and
with fraudulent intent that Georges Kavvadias had these Minutes drawn
up for the purposes of claiming the capacity that he did not have by
appointing himself Manager of INFINITY RESOURCES S.P.R.L.; Whereas
Georges Kavvadias availed himself of this fraudulently acquired
capacity in all instances to the detriment of El Nino Ventures Inc.
by
seeking to evict it while committing acts that are largely prejudicial
to INFINITY RESOURCES S.P.R.L.
with the risk of causing it to lose
almost all of its property; that the minutes of the meeting of the
Board of Directors appointing Georges Kavvadias as Manager are NULL and
VOID".
The following is an English translation of a partial excerpt from the
official transcript of the Court proceedings;
THE COMMERCIAL COURT OF LUBUMBASHI IN SESSION IN LUBUMBASHI AND SITTING
IN A COMMERCIAL MATTER IN FIRST INSTANCE RENDERED THE FOLLOWING
JUDGMENT:
PUBLIC HEARING OF 07/03/2010
In rendering its decision for the first Judgment, the Court ruling
publicly and jointly regarding all the parties, the Government Ministry
having been heard in its conforming written opinion read by Mr.
MUTOKE,
Assistant Public Prosecutor of the Republic;
In view of the Code of Judicial Organization and Jurisdiction;
In view of the Code of Civil Procedure;
In view of the Law regarding the Creation, Organization and Operation
of the Commercial Courts;
In view of Articles 258, 526 and 529 of the Congolese Code of
Obligations;
In view of Article 81 para.
1 of the coordinated texts on Business
Corporations;
Declares admissible and well founded the action brought by EL NINO
VENTURES Inc.;Rules in its favour;
Declares that the Special General Meeting of July 4, 2007 was held
irregularly;
Decrees the nullity of the minutes established the outcome of said
Meeting;
Condemns the Defendant Georges KAVVADIAS to pay damages and costs to El
Nino
When called on to give its opinion, the Government Ministry concluded
that the Defendant GEORGES KAVVADIAS exceeded the power conferred on
him; and in the Government Ministrys opinion, he was not empowered to
represent EL NINO VENTURES Inc.
at the Shareholders General Meeting.
In
addition the Government Ministry considered that the holding of this
Meeting was not preceded by a regular notice to the Partners and that
the Minutes of said Meeting were never filed with the Office of the
Commercial Court, the Court declared the action initiated by El Nino
admissible and well founded, and ruled in El Ninos favour and granted
El Nino the full benefit of the writ to institute proceedings.
The Court noted that GEORGES KAVVADIAS relied on the proxy entrusted to
him by Mr.
J.
Luc Roy (past President) to represent EL NINO at the
disputed Meeting, but that in representing EL NINO at the General
Meeting of INFINITY RESOURCES, Mr.
KAVVADIAS went beyond the powers
conferred on him and that Mr.
KAVVADIAS did not provide proof of the
notice to the Partners to attend the General Meeting held on July 4,
2007.
As previously reported (News Releases; October 1, 2010 and January 4,
2011), the Company had expected to go to arbitration sometime during
February, 2011.
Following these decisions, the Company is working with
its legal counsel to finalize the appointment of the arbitrator and set
a series of dates for the steps to be taken in the conduct of the
arbitration and to pursue its claims against Georges Kavvadias and his
company GCP Group here in Canada, through the process of Arbitration.
About El Nino Ventures Canadian Assets and Joint Venture Partners
In Canada, El Nino holds a 50% interest in an extensive base metal
project located within the Bathurst mining camp in Bathurst, New
Brunswick, where earlier drilling campaigns have been carried out on
several historical deposits of lead, zinc and copper mineralization
within the large claim block owned 50% ELN, 50% Xstrata Zinc.
El Nio subsequently entered into an option agreement with Votorantim
Metals Canada Inc.
and Xstrata Zinc Canada whereby Votorantim may earn
a 50% interest in El Nios landholdings by expending $10 million over
5 years and may further increase its interest in El Nios landholdings
to 70% by expending an additional $10 million over a further two years.
(Please see release dated May 4, 2010,).
In February 2011, ELN announced that a $5 million exploration program
has begun consisting of airborne and ground geophysics and will include
a 10,000 metre drill program which is slated for commencement in the
spring of 2011.
(See press release dated February 23, 2011).
In January 2011, ELN announced that it has provided notice Votorantim
Metals Canada Inc.
(Votorantim) to enter into an Option Agreement on
the Murray Brook Polymetallic Deposit, situated in the Bathurst Mining
Camp in New Brunswick, Canada.
(See press release dated January 20,
2011)..
Drilling has been initiated on this project El Ninos
management is aggressively seeking to acquire additional projects on an
international scale that meet our corporate objectives.
This includes
base and precious metal properties within Africa and North America.El
Nino has approximately $2.5 million in cash with no debt.
Comments from Mr.
Barr, Chairman and Acting CEO, "I would like to thank
our shareholders, the directors, the financial community, our legal
counsel, management and consultants in Canada and the DRC who have
supported El Nino Ventures over the last two years, especially because
of the situation we were forced to address in the DRC."
Without their continued support and belief, El Nino Ventures would not
have been able to accomplish its objectives.
I am exceptionally proud
of the team that we have assembled since I became the Chairman and
acting CEO in September 2009.
At the time, I was and continue to be a
major shareholder of this company.
I was asked by the previous board of
directors and the President to head up El Nino (I felt obligated to do
so as I had worked with the majority of the board for over 20 years and
many of the shareholders were my long time friends/investors) when they
were experiencing difficulties with Mr.
Kavvadias, who was our partner
in the DRC.
When I rejoined El Nino, my mandate was to refinance the company and in
extremely difficult our financial team acconplished that objective.
>From there, working in conjunction with the board of directors and our
technical team, we continue to advance its projects in the DRC and
Canada.
In the Fall of 2009, we then worked tirelessly with Mr.
Kavvadias to
get his commitment to work with El Ninos management team and together
we were to proceed with the further development of our DRC projects.
At the end of 2009, El Nino raised sufficient working capital to
stabilize our balance sheets, and complete the geochemical program
(which was positive) and to finance the drilling which was slated for
April 2011.
Previously, the Kasala project had produced exceptional
drill results which we believe demonstrated that it was the beginning
of a new copper discovery
When I committed to become the Chairman and acting CEO, a court action
was already underway.
After several rounds of talks and negotiations,
Mr.
Kavvadias gave me a verbal commitment and shook my hand and we
agreed that the past was the past and that we would put our differences
behind us and together we would work to develop our DRC projects.
Subsequently, due to a court action initiated by Mr.
Kavvadias in the
DRC, I personally visited two African countries to do my best efforts
convince him that his actions were unfounded and unfair to our
shareholders who had commited millions of dollars to the DRC which lead
to the Kasala Copper discovery and to once again get Mr.
Kavvadias to
recommit to our cause and work with El Ninos management to proceed
with the further development of our projects.
Our negotiations and
efforts were unsuccessful.
Unfortunately, I had to advise the board that we would have no choice
but to defend our rights and take counter actions to protect our assets
on behalf of the shareholders of El Nino due to Mr.
Kavvadias
continued unreasonable and unrealistic demands.
I personally never
intended to get this involved in an unproductive, prolonged series of
court actions which have caused our shareholders and management undue
hardship but looking back I do not see how we had any choice.
Then as now, I believe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its vast
mineral wealth, more specifically, that with continued support from the
government and its citizens, foreign companies like El Nino, will
continue to invest in their country.
El Ninos objective is to utilize the people of the DRCs expertise,
and blend that expertise with our technical and financial ability to
develop of our existing projects.
Going forward, our mandate is to acquire new projects and ultimately to
create additional jobs, further educate the local communities that are
projects are located in and be environmentally responsible and
respectful of country.
I believe the accomplishment of this corporate
vision will also help grow the DRCs economy.
The companies I have been associated with, including the International
Metals Group, have completed over 30 option/joint venture agreements
with major mining companies, approximately 15 with mid-tier companies
and over 200 with junior mining companies on an International scale.
Combining our joint ventures with the equity we collectively raised
approximately $500 million to complete our objectives to date.
I am very proud to say that during my tenure as Chairman and acting CEO
with El Nino Ventures, our legal, technical, financial and
administrative team have both achieved and exceeded its objectives.
Despite managements continued efforts, we cannot guarantee that the
final result will be in our favour.
However, we will persevere and
based on the achievements which we have purposely and painfully
overstated in this release, we believe we will accomplish our
objectives.
Our technical team is currently finalizing exploration plans to
continue the development of our DRC projects and those announcements
will be forthcoming.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Harry Barr"
Harry Barr, Chairman and Acting CEO
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Copyright (c) 2011 EL NINO VENTURES INC.
(ELN) All rights reserved.
For more information visit our website at
http://www.elninoventures.com/ or send mailto:
Message sent on Mon Apr 11, 2011 at 9:48:40 AM Pacific Time
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