NoreX Petroleum Ltd.
Tuesday August 19th
, 2003 Contact:
Phil Murray
President, Norex
(403) 531-4500
Norex is invited to testify in French litigation
Norex Petroleum Limited Phil Murray, President, and Alex
Rotzang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Norex
Petroleum have been requested to testify in the civil action brought against French
newspaper Les Echos and journalist Martine Royo in Paris.
The action was filed in the Paris Court
by the Alfa Bank and Alfa Group’s chief executive Michail
Fridman, for defamation.
According to the letter received by Norex, the claim is a
result of the article written by Ms. Royo and
published by Les Echos on February 7, 2003 describing the “Prestige” oil spill
disaster which polluted Spanish and French coasts in 2002. The owner of the
spilled oil was Alfa Group’s member company Crown Resources AG. “On this
occasion, - Ms. Royo writes, - “I reminded our
readers of the strong suspicions about the Alfa Group being responsible for
money laundering, tax evasion, assets stripping and stealing oil fields. I told
Norex story when Yugraneft, its subsidiary, was seized by TNK, the oil company which belongs
to Alfa and Access/Renova”.
In February, 2002, Norex Petroleum Limited, a Canadian based
investor whose control over Yugraneft Corporation, an oil company in Russia,
was illegally seized at gun point brought claims against Access/Renova, Alfa/Crown and TNK Group (collectively
“Defendants), under the RICO statute in
the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The RICO complaint
against Defendants and their officers is for harm suffered by the illegal
seizure of its control over Yugraneft as part of an overreaching illegal scheme
to obtain dominance over the Russian petroleum industry. Norex claims that the Defendants’ illegal
scheme was perpetrated through acts of mail and wire fraud, extortion, money
laundering, illegal monetary transactions, Travel Act violations, bribery,
fraud, use of armed force, and physical threats.
On July 2, 2003
Norex partially disclosed evidence in support of its RICO complaint against the
Defendants, including proof of its profit diversion, money laundering, and tax
evasion claims, clearly demonstrating how the Defendants used New
York as the base to organize and manage their world wide criminal
activities. Norex identifies and exhibits more than 100 documents in support of
its allegations from various U.S.
government agencies, including the Department of State, Department of Treasury,
Department of Commerce, and Export-Import Bank, as well as some documents
obtained from various sources in the course of its due diligence. (declaration of Philip Murray).
Norex also served its Amended and Restated Disclosures
naming more than 40 witnesses related to Defendants and more than 150 third
parties witnesses; it also identified over 100 related legal entities in
numerous jurisdictions around the world as well as banks and outside advisers,
including Pricewaterhouse Coopers, who are believed
to have relevant documents.
The witnesses include current and former officers of various
companies including BP, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
various American investors harmed by Defendants, employees of a myriad of
offshore Slush Fund Companies in the BVI, Gibraltar, Isle
of Man, Liechtenstein,
and Luxembourg,
and various Crown Group companies (allegedly merged into ERC Trading Limited
soon after the “Prestige” disaster.
Norex also filed expert legal reports, describing the inadequacy
and corruption of the Russian Legal system. In addition, Norex filed a Crude Oil Trading Expert
report (declaration of Helmar Shank) and relevant
documentary evidence of oil price manipulations by TNK and the Crown Group
companies and their involvement in tax fraud and money laundering in numerous
jurisdictions.
Norex’s July 2 filings are
available at www.norexpetroleum.com.
A subpoena approved by the New York
court had earlier been served on BP in March 2003 requiring BP to preserve all documents
and information relevant to defendants.
As a separate matter Norex’s
expert legal reports were recently referenced
in the High Court of the British Virgin
Islands by the plaintiffs Astian and Indian Ocean, who
brought claims against the Defendant’s related entities in the BVI alleging
damages suffered as a result of the transfer pricing practice by Sidanco and
its subsidiaries, controlled by Defendants and BP.
Norex has also retained the local legal counsel of
Smith-Hughes, Raworth & McKenzie in the BVI to follow the action very closely and
to assist as required.
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