Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) has appointed John Nagulendran as a non-executive director.
Nagulendran serves as the assistant general counsel of Pala Investments AG, the exclusive advisor to Pala Investments Holdings Ltd, a substantial shareholder of Churchill.
Prior to joining Pala Investments, he was a practising lawyer at international law firm Herbert Smith LLP, where he specialized in the energy and natural resources sectors.
He has worked in London, Singapore and Jakarta advising major corporates on acquisitions, disposals and equity financing.
Prior to Herbert Smith, Nagulendran was at Rajah & Tann LLP, working on commercial and banking litigation matters. He is qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales and an advocate & solicitor in Singapore.
Nagulendran replaces Jan Castro, who has resigned as one of Pala's representatives on the Churchill board.
Chairman David Quinlivan said: "We are delighted to gain the commercial and legal experience of Mr Nagulendran as we enter the phase of international arbitration against the Republic of Indonesia.“
Only last week, the group filed a further formal letter to the President of Indonesia, seeking support and legal protection in order to achieve an amicable and commercial resolution to the dispute regarding the East Kutai coal project (EKCP), 75 per cent owned by Churchill.
The company believes that various Indonesian parties, both government and private, aim to expropriate its legitimate rights to develop the project.
Churchill believes these actions to be in direct breach of both Indonesian law and Indonesia's obligations under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Indonesia.
It is preparing an arbitration claim against Indonesia for direct breaches of the country’s obligations under the abovementioned treaty. It plans to file its claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington later this month.
Churchill Mining appoints John Nagulendran as non-exec director
Published: 11:13 10 May 2012 BST