Companhia
Mineira de Naburi (“CMdN”)
Mozambique
Injunction previously obtained by General Veloso Reinstated
with
Suspensive Effect
The owners of CMdN, General
Veloso and Diogo Cavaco, note the statement from Pathfinder Minerals on 2 April
2013, in which Pathfinder Minerals acknowledges that its attempt to interfere
with General Veloso and Diogo Cavaco’s legal action against Pathfinder Minerals
currently underway in Mozambique has failed.
On 13 April 2012, General
Veloso and Diogo Cavaco obtained an Injunction preventing IM Minerals Limited
(“IMM”), the subsidiary of Pathfinder Minerals, from pursuing legal action in
the UK until the Mozambique legal case filed by General Veloso and Diogo Cavaco
was resolved. Under the terms of this Injunction any attempt to use foreign
courts to interfere with the Mozambique legal process would be a criminal
breach.
On 27 November 2012
Pathfinder Minerals persuaded the Maputo court to revoke that Injunction – however, on 27 March 2013 the court in
Maputo confirmed and reinstated the Injunction “with suspensive effect”,
meaning that all legal actions taken by the company in the UK, including during
the period when the Injunction was revoked, are regarded by the Maputo court as
a criminal breach of its initial ruling.
Pathfinder Minerals now says
it “believes there are good grounds for challenging
the validity of the order suspending the effect of the Maputo Judgment. It will
do so on an urgent basis and will also contest the Defendants' appeal.”
However, the following facts are
unassailable:
·
The shares of CMdN are shares of a Mozambican
company, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Mozambique court and are owned
by General Veloso and Diogo Cavaco, prominent and highly-respected Mozambique
nationals.
·
In the High Court judgement obtained by
Pathfinder Minerals in October 2012, the English judge correctly found that the
Share Option Agreement by which Pathfinder Minerals claimed to own shares of
CMdN was indeed an option agreement, under which the option could only be
exercised upon payment of the purchase price of $9.9m.
·
This
$9.9m has never been paid.
·
Accordingly, under Mozambique law, ownership of
CMdN shares never passed to Pathfinder Minerals
. Pathfinder Minerals has
never denied that it has not paid for the shares, nor explained the failure to
pay.
General Veloso and Diogo Cavaco remain highly confident that while it
is likely to take several years for this case to be finally resolved, they will
be successful in defending their rights of ownership under Mozambique law.
