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Banpu ordered to pay 1.5B baht in Hongsa coal JV ruling

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Banpu ordered to pay 1.5B baht in Hongsa coal JV ruling

The Thai Supreme Court ordered Banpu PCL to pay compensation of 1.5 billion Thai baht to Siva Nganthavee and his Thai-Lao Lignite Co. for using information to develop the Hongsa coal-fired power plant in Laos, the Bangkok Post reported March 6.

The ruling, under which the coal miner will also pay a 7.5% annual interest dated back to the filing of the lawsuit in August 2007, was accepted by Banpu.

In September 2014, the Thailand's court of appeals dismissed the claim by Nganthavee, and ruled in favor of Banpu, reversing an earlier court ruling under which the latter was required to pay over US$1 billion to previous joint venture partners.

Nganthavee alleged that Banpu had "deceptively" entered into a joint development agreement to gain information relating to a US$3.7 billion lignite power plant project in Hongsa, Laos.

Thai-Lao secured a concession from the Lao government to develop the power plant in 1994, and it entered a joint venture with Banpu in 2005.

The government terminated the joint venture with Thai-Lao in September 2006, but awarded a new concession to Banpu just two months after.

Nganthavee claimed that the Thai coal miner misinformed the Lao government using knowledge secured from the joint venture, which led to canceling of the contract.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Adul Raksanit, will consider filing cases against people who used the information.

As of March 6, US$1 was equivalent to 31.29 Thai baht.