Emerita Advises Lower Court Reopens Aznalcollar Case; Scope of Criminal Charges Expanded
29 October 2019 - 11:00PM
Emerita Resources Corp. (TSX-V: EMO) (the
“Company” or “Emerita”) is pleased to announce that subsequent to
the recent unanimous ruling by five judges of the Appellate Court
of Seville (the “Appellate Court”) in favour of Emerita’s appeal
that the legal process is moving quickly towards resolution.
As announced earlier this month, Emerita had successfully appealed
a lower court’s (Seville Court No. 3) decision to dismiss a
criminal case against the Andalusian government panel (the “Panel”)
responsible for awarding the Aznalcóllar project (the “Project”)
and the former Director of Mines of the Government of Andalucía
(collectively, the “Accused”) (see news release dated October 4,
2019).
Following the order from the Appellate Court
that the lower court reconsider and investigate the claims against
the Accused as well as investigate certain representatives of
Minorbis-GM, the case has been expanded by the lower court in terms
of number of crimes as well as number of individuals charged.
This is the second time that the Appellate Court has ordered the
lower court to reopen its investigation. The Appellate Court
reiterated its findings from its original decision, namely that
there is strong evidence of gross negligence and misconduct by the
Accused. A key finding of the Appellate Court was that
Minorbis-GM failed to comply with the requirements of the first
stage of the tender process and should never have been eligible to
participate in the second stage of the tender based on the criteria
set out in the tender documents.
Emerita has received correspondence from the Seville Court No. 3
indicating the Aznalcóllar case has been re-opened following the
orders from the Appellate Court. The instruction document, among
other things, states the following:
- The scope of the criminal activity
has been extended from a single crime of Prevarication to include
the crimes Embezzlement, Bribery, Influence Peddling and
Fraud.
- All the members of the Panel, as
well as the individuals who were part of the various technical
commissions, have been called to give testimony.
- The Principals of Magtel which owns
Minorbis (the company that submitted the competing bid) have also
been formally named by the Appellate Court for the first time and
have been called to give testimony.
- The Secretary General of Industry
(Secretario General de la Consejería de Industria de la Junta de
Andalucía), Vicente Fernandez, who was the high-level bureaucrat
responsible at the time of the Public Tender, has been named for
the original charge as well as the new charges. He has subsequently
resigned his position.
- The judge will request the
UCO (Federal police investigators) to inquire about the promotions
that the implicated people were granted after the Aznalcóllar
tender was awarded.
- The Deputy Director of Energy and
Mines (Subdirectora de Industria, Energía y Minas), Mrs. Susana
Sarria, a key participant in the tender process has been called as
a witness, as she is copied in emails (CC) between Mr. Fernandez
and Magtel.
The next phase of the legal process commences
the first week of November and is expected to conclude in early
December. According to Joaquin Merino P.Geo., President of
Emerita, “We are very pleased to see the legal process moving
forward quickly and efficiently. This is a very important
step as prior to this point the Seville Court No. 3 had shown a
reluctance to proceed. Following the clear directive of the
Appellate Court, the Seville Court No.3 has not only ruled to
proceed but it has expanded the number of criminal charges as well
as increased the number of people implicated.”
David Gower P.Geo., CEO of Emerita, stated;
“Emerita looks forward to the resolution of the dispute relating to
the Public Tender and remains committed to working with the
community and the authorities on the development of the Aznalcóllar
project into a modern operation with the highest regard for
environmental stewardship and safety for the community and its
employees. A key conclusion of the upper court ruling was
that the competing bid was incomplete and should have been
disqualified prior to being accepted into the second round of the
public tender process. As such Emerita is the only qualified
bidder.”
Emerita continues to maintain that it is the
only remaining qualified bidder in the Aznalcóllar tender process
and under Spanish law should be awarded the Project. Emerita
remains committed to working with the community of Aznalcóllar to
develop the Project in an environmentally responsible manner to
benefit all stakeholders. Please see news release dated
October 4, 2019 for a summary of the Aznalcollar project. The
Aznalcóllar Project is a past producing property within the famous
Iberian Pyrite Belt that hosted the Aznalcóllar and Los Frailes
open pit zinc-lead-silver mines.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this
news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Joaquin Merino,
P.Geo, President of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined
by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities
Administrators.
About Emerita Resources
Corp.
Emerita is a natural resource company engaged in
the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties
in Europe, with a primary focus on exploring in Spain. The
Company’s corporate office and technical team are based in Sevilla,
Spain with an administrative office in Toronto, Canada.
For further information, contact:
Helia Bento
+1 (416) 566-8179 (Toronto)
Joaquin Merino
+34 (628) 1754 66 (Spain)
info@emeritaresources.com
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-looking Information
This press release contains “forward-looking
information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without
limitation, statements regarding the Company’s ability to be
awarded the Project, the mineralization of the Project, the
Company’s ability to develop the Project, the prospectivity of the
Project, the Company’s ability to complete a NI 43-101 resource
estimate and feasibility study, the timing of legal processes in
Spain and the Company’s future plans. Generally, forward-looking
information can be identified by the use of forward-looking
terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is
expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”,
“intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”,
or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain
actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or
“will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. Forward- looking
information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of
activity, performance or achievements of Emerita, as the case may
be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by
such forward-looking information, including but not limited to:
general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social
uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration
activities; risks associated with operation in foreign
jurisdictions; ability to successfully integrate the purchased
properties; foreign operations risks; and other risks inherent in
the mining industry. Although Emerita has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in forward-looking information,
there may be other factors that cause results not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that
such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and
future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking information. Emerita does not undertake
to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance
with applicable securities laws.
NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS
REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE
POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
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