Ex-director of MetalNRG stands down legal claims against firm

A former executive director of London-listed MetalNRG has withdrawn his legal action against the natural resources investing firm.

Pierpaolo Rocco brought a claim against the company and three of its current directors, including chairman Christopher Latilla-Campbell and current CEO Rolf Gerritsen, alleging ‘unfair prejudice’ towards him.

He claimed that the business had rescinded particular transactions on an inaccurate and misleading basis, while management had given excessive compensation to Gerritsen.

 MetalNRG initially launched legal acton against Rocco and BritEnergy in January amidst a dispute over its holding in the oil and gas joint venture BritNRG 

MetalNRG and its directors, which also include the non-executive director and executive chairman of Eurasia Mining, Christian Schaffalitzky De Muckadel, sought to have Rocco’s petition thrown out.

They argued that there was ‘no reasonable grounds’ for it being brought, had no chance of succeeding and lacked a reason for being brought to trial.

On 23 December, just before the deadline to file evidence in support of his application was reached, Mr Rocco ended his claim and entered into a consent order with MetalNRG and its leadership, according to the group.

Under this agreement, Rocco has agreed to bear the £20,000 costs of the London-based firm and its directors but could be liable for more depending on a court decision. 

Today’s announcement comes about a fortnight after a judge rejected demands by BritEnergy, of which Rocco is a chief executive, and joint venture BritNRG for a leave to appeal a summary judgement awarded to MetalNRG in September.

The two defendants then had a week to renew the application for permission to appeal against the judgment, or MetalNRG would be entitled to take out £545,000 in compensation.

An update has yet to be given on whether the application was made or if any money had exchanged hands.

MetalNRG initially launched legal action against Rocco and his company in January amidst a dispute over its shareholding in the oil and gas joint venture BritNRG.

To boost its stake in BritNRG, the firm made payments of just over £1million but revoked the deal after finding out Rocco had failed to declare a major stake he owned in the business.

In September, the two entities were ordered to reimburse MetalNRG, plus interest and costs, and rejected their leave to appeal and stay of execution.

They had until the afternoon of 26 October to pay £1.2million in costs but only handed over about £250,000 before the deadline passed.

MetalNRG holds five principal investments, ranging from a gold mining project in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, a uranium deposit in Kyrgyzstan, and the Gold Ridge project near Tucson, Arizona.

In its most recent financial results covering the first six months of 2022, the group posted a loss of £1million, of which around £630,000 was related to legal and professional fees spent on the BritNRG case.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk