Kyrgyzaltyn disagrees with the charges brought against the company. Official statement of Kyrgyzaltyn JSC says.
Kyrgyzaltyn once again confirmed that no payment documents and transactions related to «gold transactions» were carried out on May 12, 2021 and in the following days.
«Moreover, our company is not engaged in payment documents forgery. These data can be verified by any independent auditing firm,» Kyrgyzaltyn said in response to the statements by Centerra Gold Inc. that on May 12 the company allegedly tried to transfer $29 million to an unauthorized bank account using a fake payment order sent to a third party.
At the same time, the state-owned company noted that the coordination of any changes regarding supplies between Kyrgyzaltyn JSC and StoneX has always been of a notification nature. Usually, in such situations, StoneX employees contacted Kyrgyzaltyn OJSC to resolve certain issues.
«But we learned about the change in payment details from the media on May 21, 2021. We affirm once again that Kyrgyzaltyn JSC has nothing to do with the signatures on the alleged modified payment order! Regarding the disrupted supply of gold, the company also sent a notification to StoneX about a force majeure situation. This was due to the fact that the license of Kyrgyzaltyn OJSC for the export of gold was suspended. Therefore, fulfillment of obligations of Kyrgyzaltyn OJSC to the buyer of StoneX became impossible,» the statement says.
The company does not agree with the charges brought against it and notes that now lawyers are protecting the interests of Kyrgyzaltyn JSC. «We hope that this situation will be resolved in the near future. In turn, we note that Kyrgyzaltyn is guaranteed to comply with all international rules, norms, regulations and standards in all cycles of precious metals production,» the company concluded.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that in May, when the Kumtor mine was seized, the state refinery disrupted the supply of almost half a metric tonne of gold to StoneX and allegedly tried to intercept about $ 29 million, which the seller was supposed to pay to Kumtor. This follows from reports of people familiar with the situation and documents submitted to the court by Centerra and StoneX.
According to StoneX, Kyrgyzaltyn sent an invoice to the seller, demanding to transfer the money to the account of Well Fargo — the clearly mistakenly named Wells Fargo & Co. This is confirmed by the testimony of some people and one of the documents presented to the court.
StoneX sued the refinery for over $ 1 million in a London court to cover the costs it said it incurred in trading to hedge the gold trade.
The London Bullion Market Association is currently investigating the allegations against the refinery, Sakhila Mirza, Director of the Executive Board and General Advisor to the body that oversees the legality of operations in the London gold market, said.
