United Cacao Limited SEZC (AIM: CHOC), the AIM-quoted cacao plantation company based in Peru, is pleased to announce a settlement and litigation in the Company's favour.
On 12 January 2016, the Federal Supreme Court of Peru re-affirmed the Loreto Superior Court of Appeals' ruling on 26 March 2015 (previously detailed via RNS on 29 September 2015), which itself originally confirmed the Company's freehold properties' environmental permitting and agricultural zoning since 1997.
In addition, following legal proceedings between the Company and Rettet den Regenwald e.V. which were initiated by the Company on 20 January 2014, a settlement has now been registered at the District Court of Hamburg in Germany under which Rettet den Regenwald e.V. shall: (i) pay to the Company monetary compensation; and (ii) immediately publish clarification statements on its websites and Twitter for defamatory comments previously published and since removed. These clarification statements are now available online for three months and can be found at the following links:
- https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/news/7058/clarification?t=361;
- https://www.regenwald.org/news/7060/klarstellung; and,
- https://www.salvalaselva.org/noticias/7059/aclaracion.
The Company intends to donate the monetary damages from Rettet den Regenwald e.V. towards social programmes targeting youth education and women's health initiatives in its operating area.