The chaos surrounding London-listed Indonesian coal-miner Bumi Resources shows no sign of ending.
The company's shares have dropped 9.3p to 322.1p after a long awaited independent report into alleged misdemeanours in Indonesia failed to prove misuse of funds, although it is still in talks with the country's authorities and the Serious Fraud Office.
Bumi, which was set up in 2010 when Indonesia's Bakrie family reversed their coal assets into a shell company set up financier Nat Rothschild, said documentary evidence of the allegations had been obtained illegally and key witnesses had refused to co-operate. In a statement Bumi said:
Circumstantial evidence supports a number of the allegations but, due to the unwillingness of key parties to be interviewed and provide information, as well as provenance issues, the allegations have not been substantiated.
The company is unable to release the detail of the [independent] Macfarlanes report due to exposure to unacceptable legal risks that exist (primarily in Indonesia) as a result of the undisclosed provenance of the materials which formed the basis of the investigation, together with the unsubstantiated nature of the allegations.
A substantial majority of the matters which were the subject of the investigation pre-date the acquisition by Vallar...The board is currently investigating why the due diligence did not reveal the issues... and notes that.. the identification and assessment of acquisition opportunities (including due diligence) were outsourced to Vallar Advisers, an entity led by Mr Rothschild.
The Bakrie family and Rothschild are in conflict about the future of the business. The Bakries was to take back the operational assets, but Rothschild wants to keep the venture and change the board.
