Mawson Resources (TSE:MAW) has called on the police to investigate certain accusations that were made against it in a court appeal case in Finland.
The Canadian company wants to know whether the accusations, made by the Lapland district organization of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation - a non-governmental organization, or NGO - in a recent re-appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, constitute a criminal act under Finnish Law.
Mawson's request for the police investigation concerns certain contents of the appeal, and not the appeal process itself.
The NGO initially appealed against the Finnish Mining Authority's decision to award Mawson an exploration permit, and when it lost that case it appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, saying that Mawson had performed deep drilling in Natura 2000 biodiversity areas before the permit was awarded.
Mawson refutes this claim and said that any doubts over its position can easily be verified from public records.
Under Finnish Law, it is a criminal act to even attempt to wilfully mislead a court, and although Mawson has given the NGO ample time and opportunity to retract its accusations, it has not done so, hence the call for the boys in blue to get involved.
These actions have no effect on Mawson advancing under its current permit conditions to drill with man-portable rigs at the Palokas gold discovery.
"We accept it is unusual for an exploration company to request a police investigation to review the actions of an NGO; however, Mawson finds itself in the position where it has no other recourse but to defend itself and the rights of all its shareholders and stakeholders," said Michael Hudson, president and chief executive officer of Mawson.
"Since the appeal was lodged, Mawson has provided multiple opportunities for the NGO to correct their statements. As these requests have been ignored, it appears the NGO's intentions are to delay Mawson's research by all means available. The police investigation request concerns certain contents of the NGO appeal, and not the appeal process itself, which is the NGO's legal right," Hudson said.