Wescoal opposes legal action to liquidate a subsidiary

Wescoal Holdings Limited (“Wescoal”), the listed coal mining company involved in the mining and trading of coal, today announced, through a SENS statement, that it would oppose the legal actions launched against a subsidiary, Wescoal Mining, by Sutha Civils (Pty) Ltd (“Sutha”), a former disgruntled contractor at Wescoal’s Khanyisa Colliery.

Andre Bojé, CEO of Wescoal said, “On the release of Wescoal’s results on 29 June 2011, the holding company as well as all subsidiaries were and remain solvent. Based on this we see no validity in the Sutha claim to declare Wescoal Mining insolvent.”

Yesterday, Sutha, despite being precluded from making unsubstantiated and derogatory statements regarding Wescoal by means of a court interdict, applied for the liquidation of Wescoal Mining. “The legal team representing Wescoal Mining have been instructed to oppose the application based on the premise that the application is malicious, unfounded and has no prospect of success,” says Bojé.

In previous statements Sutha indicated that they would lodge a liquidation claim in March 2011 but only proceeded with the action in July 2011. “This delay in proceedings, once again, indicates to Wescoal that there is no validity in the claim,” stated Bojé.

Bojé concludes by saying that by not first proving their claim in a court but rather proceeding directly to the liquidation process, Sutha’s application is an abuse of proper court process.”