VANCOUVER, June 24, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- TSX.V: ELN
FSE: E7Q
El Nino Ventures Inc. ("ELN", "El Nino" or the "Company")
(TSX.V: ELN; FSE: E7Q) announced today that it has received notice
that the previously announced claims commenced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (DRC) were
dismissed by the Tribunal of Commerce of Lubumbashi. El Nino
successfully argued that the jurisdiction for hearing the claims is
in British Columbia and not the
DRC. As well, the orders for garnishment of the Company's shares in
its joint venture Company, Infinity Resources SPRL, have been
removed and remain registered in the Company's name contrary to the
representations of Georges Kavvadias
and GCP Group Ltd. The Company continues to take the position that
the actions of its previous Country Manager, Georges Kavvadias are both spurious and without
merit.
El Nino has also served Mr. Kavvadias and GCP Group Ltd. a
Notice of Dispute and petitioned the Supreme Court of British Columbia in response to two alleged
defaults of the Joint Venture Agreement.
The Company has stated in its Notice of Dispute and is prepared
to prove that:
- The amounts claimed are not due and owing and that Mr.
Kavvadias and GCP Group Ltd., despite repeated requests are unable to
provide an accounting of the funds entrusted with him for the
advancement of exploration works in the DRC.
- GCP Group Ltd. is in breach of the Representations and
Warranty contained in the Agreements.
- A claim of USD $850,349, for the right to set-off, as
against any sums which may be due and owing to Georges Kavvadias and
GCP Group Ltd., as well as unspecified damages for breach of the
agreements by Georges Kavvadias and GCP Group Ltd. and for further
damages for fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation by Georges Kavvadias
and GCP Group Ltd.
In addition to the above, the Company is claiming that
Georges Kavvadias breached the Joint
Venture Agreement, in addition to the breach of warranty, by
purloining funds provided to him, by denying the Company access to
financial information and the Company's leased premises, equipment
and property in the DRC and refusing to follow the budgetary
decisions of El Nino.
It is important for the Company to obtain a resolution of the
disputes and to determine the above quickly, so that the Management
can begin addressing its obligations and renewing its efforts to
advance the Company's exploration projects in the DRC.
Following receipt from GCP Group Ltd. of the Notices of Default
relating to the Joint Venture Agreement, El Nino has invoked the
arbitration clauses contained in the agreements. Whereas in the
past, GCP Group Ltd. has commenced litigation both in British Columbia which has been resolved and
in the DRC which has been dismissed, with respect to past disputes,
the Company's purpose for invoking the arbitration clause is to
obtain a quick resolution of the current disputes.
On behalf of the Board,
"Harry Barr"
Harry Barr
Director, Chairman, Acting CEO
El Nino Ventures Inc.
Neither the 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.
Note: this release contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ
materially from actual future events or results and are based on
current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In
addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which
the Company uses words such as "continue", "efforts", "expect",
"believe", "anticipate", "confident", "intend", "strategy", "plan",
"will", "estimate", "project", "goal", "target", "prospects",
"optimistic" or similar expressions. These statements by their
nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may
differ materially depending on a variety of important factors,
including, among others, the Company's ability and continuation of
efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current
public information, additional or different regulatory and legal
requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other
factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company
on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that
identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The
Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm
analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any
revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
If you have any questions please contact J. Oness at either
+1-604-685-1870 or by email at jay@elninoventures.com.