Displaying items by tag: Court

Colombia: Cemex Colombia has received a US$16.8m fine from the Colombian Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (DIAN) for irregularities in its 2012 income tax payment. The company reportedly made an improper imputation of its balance for the year. Cemex Colombia says that it will take the matter to court. It has until March 2022 to file a suit.

Algeria: An Egypt-based investment company has initiated legal action against Algeria over issues relating to two cement plant projects. The Global Arbitration Review newspaper has reported that the company is seeking to claim US$900m in damages.

Ireland: The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has won its case against Quinn Cement over the latter’s violation of emissions laws. The Impartial Reporter newspaper has reported that an EPA monitor recorded 36 breaches at Quinn Cement’s Ballyconnell plant between 5 October 2018 and 7 October 2018. The plant was also emitting four times the legal hydrogen chloride on 5 February 2019. Following its subsidiary company’s guilty plea, Quinn Industrial Holdings said via a spokesperson, “Though independent assessment confirmed there were no material environmental impacts arising, best practice environmental safety procedures were followed and production ceased on each occasion. Since then significant work and expenditure has been completed to prevent a recurrence.” The Cavan district court fined Quinn Cement Euro2000.

Tunisia: Carthage Cement has submitted a statement to Tunisian police in which it alleges false testimony by FLSmidth’s lawyer who advised the Danish supplier in a criminal case which saw one employee sentenced to five years for illegal payments to Carthage Cement’s owners in 2017. Ritzau Finans newspaper has reported that FLSmidth’s management admitted to knowledge of the payments on 21 February 2020, something it had denied to authorities when under investigation prior to the trial, which concluded in November 2019.

Sweden: The Land and Environmental Court has ruled in favour of Cementa for the renewal of its extraction licence for its quarry near the 2.5Mt/yr integrated Slite plant in Gotland. The company says that the decision ensures the continued operation of the cement plant. “We see this as confirmation that it is possible to continue limestone extraction without jeopardising water security or harming protected areas or species,” said Cementas CEO Magnus Ohlsson. “This gives us peace of mind and the chance to focus on future work in order to further develop sustainable cement production in Slite.”

Philippines: Phinma Corp.’s cement subsidiary Philcement has ramped up its return to production with the commissioning of a 2.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant with attached terminal facilities in the port of Bataan. The Philippine Star has reported that the company, whose six integrated plants had a majority market share in the country prior to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, has invested US$100m on its re-entry to production, including on the Bataan facility, since it announced the return of its Union cement brand to the market in 2018.

Phinma Corp. president and CEO Ramón del Rosario said, “We believe in this government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program and we want to help ensure the success of this program by augmenting supply and offering the highest quality cement to support critical projects.”

Phinma Corp. is among domestic producers awaiting the result of an appeal by the country’s importers against the legality of the government’s safeguard duty on imported cement.

Germany: A Zollernalb, Baden-Württemberg resident who mounted legal action against Tübingen Council in June 2019 over LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Süddeutschland’s use of waste glass in cement production at its 1.1Mt/yr integrated Dotternhausen plant has submitted ‘extensive reasoning’ for the challenge. The Schwarzwälder Bote has reported that Holcim Süddeutschland allegedly did not complete the proper tests before introducing glass to cement production at Dotternhausen in late 2017. The claimant ‘noticed a rise in heavy metal levels.’

At a subsequent council meeting, a Holcim Süddeutschland employee bore witness to the presence of a defective bag filter. By receiving glass ground to grains of a certain fineness, the claimant alleges that Holcim Süddeutschland was able to bypass federal waste regulations necessitating contaminant checks. They said the company was ‘taking citizens for idiots.’

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s court dispute with Concrete Supply has ended in a ruling in favour of the former. The Advertiser newspaper has reported that between August 2009 and November 2017 Adelaide Brighton supplied US$22.6 to Concrete Supply, for which Concrete Supply paid US$14.5 before entering administration in November 2017. Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko ruled that Concrete Supply ‘could not reasonably have held a genuine belief that it was entitled to the alleged discount or rebate.’

Nigeria: 157 of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN)’s 170 accredited shareholders have voted in favour of the company’s planned merger with Obu Cement. The Nation newspaper has reported that the company will submit the result to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will duly ratify it with the federal High Court, formalising the merger in law.

Pakistan: The Peshawar High Court has rejected a petition by local residents to prevent the construction of a US$245m cement plant in Haripur by the military Frontier Works Organisation. The Balochistan Times has reported that the project will entail the relocation of people from an area of 0.66km2 and the felling of ‘thousands of trees.’ The Supreme Court gave a preliminary hearing to the case on 2 December 2019, giving the Attorney General, Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Defence Ministry until 9 December 2019 to submit their replies.