Does anyone spend more time in court than WolfgangEuroGas to Initiate Legal Action Against V.S.K. Mining and Affiliates in the United States and Austria
2009-05-08 12:33 ET - News Release
NEW YORK, May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EuroGas, Inc. today announced that it has instructed its legal counsel in the United States and Austria to undertake legal action for industrial espionage and fraud against VSK Mining s.r.o., its shareholders VSK Mining Limited Cyprus andSchmid Industrieholding Austria GmbH, as well asVSK Mining's employee and Project Manager Peter Corej and his wife Zdenka Corejeva (the VSK Group) in relation to their involvement with the illegal cancellation of Rozmin s.r.o.'s valid mining concession at the Gemerska Poloma talc deposit in the Slovak Republic. Rozmin is a Slovak mining company which is 90% owned directly by EuroGas, Inc. or its affiliates (the EuroGas Group).
Recent information obtained from a deposition taken by the Slovak Republic police from Mr. Peter Corej, a former affiliate and employee of the EuroGas Group, revealed that Mr. Corej has admitted, under oath, to have illegally taken important, proprietary and confidential business documents and geological materials, belonging exclusively to the EuroGas Group, that he then used in his successful bidto obtain a new talc mining concession at Gemerska Poloma in the Slovak Republic in April 2005 for Economy Agency RV s.r.o., a company owned by his wife Ms. Corejeva. This bid was made after theMinistry ofEconomy's Mining Office at Spisska Nova Ves had illegally cancelled Rozmin's legal and validconcession in December 2004.
The cancellation of Rozmin's valid mining concession and the granting of a new mining concession toEconomy Agency were ruled to have been illegal by the Supreme Courtof the Slovak Republic in a non-appealable February 2008 ruling which ordered the Ministry of Economy's Mining Office at Spisska Nova Ves to correct this matter forthwith.
EuroGas fully expects that the non-appealable Slovak Supreme Court ruling will result in the return of the Gemerska Poloma talc deposit to its rightful owner Rozmin without further delay. The legal action against VSK Mining and its affiliates that is being launched is a distinct and separate action whose objective is to recover the substantial damages in the amount of appr. $ 150 Mill. incurred by the EuroGas Group since 2005, as a direct result of the loss of the Rozmin concession caused by the illegal actions of the VSK Group.
Subsequent to obtaining the new mining concession for Economy Agency, Mr. Corej - according to his admissions under oath in the Slovak police deposition- successfully negotiated an amalgamation of Economy Agency with VSK Mining, which became the owner, as the legal successor to Economy Agency, to the talc mining concession at Gemerska Poloma, one of the largest and purest talc ore bodies in the world. According to his admissions under oath, Mr. Corej provided EuroGas Group's exclusive proprietary and confidential business documents and geological materials to VSK Mining and allowed VSK Mining to use this information for its own benefit and profit.
VSK Mining is 75% owned by VSK Mining Limited Cyprus, a company owned by the Industrial Group of Dr. Jacek Engel. The balance of 25% in VSK Mining s.r.o. is held bySchmid Industrieholding,a large construction material company of Wopfing , Austria .
In addition to the investigation by the District Attorney's Office of the Slovak Republic into the illegal activities of Mr. Corej and his wife Ms. Corejeva, EuroGas has learned that there are currently active police investigations by the Slovak Police to determine the extent, if any, of the involvement of certain officials of the Ministry of Economy's Mining Offices in this matter.
Wolfgang Rauball, Chairman and Chief Excecutive Officer of EuroGas Inc. comments : "Thanks to the excellent results of the police investigation in the Slovak Republic and the expeditious work of the Slovak police authorities, I am convinced that our damage lawsuit against VSK Mining, its affiliates and the participating individuals will be successful. Furthermore I am confident that we will be still this year see the return of the Gemerska Poloma talc mine in Roznava to the EuroGas Group and that we will start producing talc together with our industrial partner Mondo Minerals.?
In March 2009 EuroGas had entered into a long-term exclusive talc delivery agreement with Mondo Minerals B.V., one of the leading talc producers and talc refiners worldwide. The agreement calls for talc delivery of a minimum of 60.000 tons of pure raw talc by the EuroGas Group for an initial period of 10 years with an option for Mondo Minerals to prolongue the agreement for an additional 20 years. Additionally EuroGas has granted Mondo Minerals a right of first refusal to acquire Rozmin s.r.o. in case EuroGas wants to divest its investment in Rozmin.