WASHINGTON D.C--World Wide Minerals Ltd. announced today that it had filed an amended Complaint in its legal action in the US District Court for the
District of Columbia. The Complaint, originally filed in the Washington D.C. Federal Court in May 1998, named as defendants the Republic of Kazakhstan and its
uranium production and marketing agent, Kazatomprom. Now World Wide also has named Nukem, Inc. of Stamford Connecticut as an additional defendant.
Nukem, a uranium broker, is a subsidiary of the Ge rman energy conglomerate, RWE Energie AG.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants defrauded World Wide and its affiliates in connection with a US$23 million investment made during 1996 and 1997 involving
the substantial reconstruction and redevelopment of uranium mining and processing facilities
in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia. After inducing World Wide to make the investment, the Republic of Kazakhstan refused to issue agreed
permits for the export of uranium concentrates produced by World Wide's affiliate and then, th
e Complaint alleges, unilaterally and unlawfully terminated World Wide's investment agreement.
World Wide alleges that Kazakhstan and Kazatomprom conspired together and with Nukem to grant to Nukem uranium marketing rights which had been
contractually granted to World Wide, in breach of the investment agreement. In addition to its claim for reimb ursement of its US$23 million investment, the lawsuit
also claims US$200 million in damages for lost profits.
In the amended Complaint, World Wide also charges the defendants with fraud and racketeering under the US Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization
(RICO) Act. The RICO claim, if substantiated, would permit the Court to award treble damages and c osts to World Wide.
World Wide is in the process of restructuring its other uranium and gold related business activities in order to concentrate on the Kazakhstan investment recovery
and to position itself to benefit from recovery in commodity prices and improving investmen t sentiment towards the metals and minerals sector. As part of this
process, World Wide has secured the necessary working capital financing for its Kazakhstan-related business activities. |
