excerpt from the Sworn Affidavit of Harry Near, dated November 21, 2017
posted on
Nov 23, 2017 08:47PM
Crystallex International Corporation is a Canadian-based gold company with a successful record of developing and operating gold mines in Venezuela and elsewhere in South America
D. Summary of the Principal Terms of the Settlement Agreement
21. The Settlement Agreement contains strict confidentiality requirements.
These include restrictions on disclosure of the negotiations that led to the settlement as
well as the terms of settlement themselves. The Company has been advised by
Venezuela Counsel and I verily believe that these confidentiality provisions are
extremely important to Venezuela because the country still has to deal with and address
hundreds of billions of dollars in claims by other creditors. Given the importance of
these confidentiality provisions to Venezuela in particular, the Company cannot make
the Settlement Agreement publicly available. The Company will file a copy of the
Settlement Agreement under seal and pursuant to an Order of the Court protecting its
confidentiality. The Settlement Agreement has been disclosed to the Monitor and its
counsel, counsel to the Company's noteholders and equity holders as well as certain
other stakeholders, pursuant to the terms of their confidentiality agreements with the
Company. The Company has also arranged for the Monitor to offer to provide certain
key information concerning the settlement to the Company's stakeholders on a
confidential basis through their counsel. The Company's objective is to ensure that its
stakeholders can understand the key features of the Settlement Agreement but without
breaching the important confidentiality requirements of the Settlement Agreement
imposed by Venezuela.
22. The principal terms of the Settlement Agreement can be summarized as
follows:
(a) Venezuela has agreed to pay to the Company a specified amount of the
Award, plus interest (the "Settlement Amount");
(b) the Settlement Amount will be paid in a series of instalments, which
include a series of up front instalments, recurring monthly instalments
thereafter, and annual instalments until the Settlement Amount has been
fully satisfied. On its face, the Settlement Agreement should provide value
to the Company over time beyond the quantum of asserted creditor claims
against the Company;
(c) the first instalment is payable on [date redacted], provided other
conditions of the settlement have been satisfied;
(d) upon payment of the first instalment, the Company will suspend all actions
and proceedings it has commenced to enforce the Award and take no
further steps to enforce the Award; and
(e) upon payment of the last instalment, the Company will discontinue or
terminate all actions and proceedings to enforce the Award.
23. If Venezuela breaches any of its payment obligations under the Settlement
Agreement, Crystallex will be entitled to re-commence all of its enforcement activities
suspended by the settlement, as well as pursue and initiate new enforcement and
collection efforts.