EANS-News: EuroGas to Initiate Legal Action against V.S.K. Mining and Affiliates in the United States and Austria
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banking/capital investment/companies/finances/funds/industry/investments/stock market/EuroGas, Inc.
New York, NY-- May 8, 2009--.EuroGas, Inc.
(Other OTC: EUGS; Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EUG.F; XETRA:
{EUG.DE}[HYPERLINK: http://EUG.DE]; Hamburg Stock Exchange: EUG.H;
and, Stuttgart Stock Exchange; {EUG.SG}[HYPERLINK: http://EUG.SG])
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. About EuroGas, Inc. EuroGas is a publicly
traded oil and gas company with assets in Ukraine and Poland , as
well as talc mining interests in the Slovak Republic and mining
properties in Arizona . The company's common stock trades on the
Frankfurt and Hamburg Stock Exchanges and Xetra in Germany under the
symbol EUG and on the Other OTC (Pink Sheets) in the United States
under the symbol EUGS. Further information about EuroGas can be found
at {www.eurogasinc.com}[HYPERLINK: http://www.eurogasinc.com] " Safe
Harbor " Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: This press release includes forward-looking statements
intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can
identify forward-looking statements by their use of the
forward-looking words "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "likely,"
"believe," "intend," "expect," or similar words. These statements
discuss future expectations, contain projections regarding future
developments, operations, or financial conditions, or state other
forward-looking information. When considering the forward-looking
statements made in this press release, you should keep in mind the
risks noted and other cautionary statements throughout this press
release. You should also keep in mind that all forward-looking
statements are based on management's existing beliefs about present
and future events outside of management's control and on assumptions
that may prove to be incorrect. If one or more risks identified in
this press release or other filing materializes, or any other
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary
materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected, or intend
For further information, please contact: Wolfgang Rauball President &
CEO, EuroGas, Inc Telephone: (212) 618-1274end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
For further information, please contact:
Wolfgang Rauball
President & CEO, EuroGas, Inc
Telephone: (212) 618-1274
Branche: Energy
ISIN: US2987341045
WKN: 891 969
Börsen: Hamburg / free trade
Frankfurt / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade