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| - Kyrgyzstan said Wednesday it was seeking over $4.2 billion in damages from the Canadian operator of the giant Kumtor gold mine, warning it could take the country's largest private investor to international courts. Kyrgyzstan, a poor, mountainous country with few natural resources, has regularly accused the Centerra Gold company of shortchanging it over the mine in the east of the country around 4,000 metres above sea level. But the dispute entered new territory Friday when parliament passed a law enabling the government to seize control of the mine and Centerra's local subsidiary was fined more than $3 billion over environmental violations. Akylbek Japarov, the head of a state commission investigating Kumtor, said the country was now seeking $4.25 billion, adding tax violations of over $1 billion to the environmental fine for dumping mining waste on glaciers. Japarov claimed Centerra had offered Kyrgyzstan 45 days to settle their differences or face international arbitration. He added that Kyrgyzstan was "preparing for arbitration". The law, which must be signed by the president to enter into force, would mean the "gold will stay in Kyrgyzstan", Japarov added. Representatives of Centerra did not immediately respond to the state commission head's comments, but said in a statement Friday that it considered the legal claims levelled against it "entirely meritless". The new law violated a 2009 agreement between the company and Kyrgyzstan that governs the mine, Centerra said. Akylbek Japarov is not a relative of President Sadyr Japarov, but was backed by the president to lead the commission which announced the tax violations Wednesday. Sadyr Japarov's sudden rise to power last October after getting freed from jail during a political crisis was particularly bad news for Centerra, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company, of which Kyrgyzstan owns more than a quarter. As an opposition politician Japarov led an unsuccessful bid to nationalise the mine both inside parliament and on the streets, where he oversaw several chaotic rallies against the company. During one of these rallies in 2013 a provincial governor was kidnapped -- a development that formed the basis for the 2017 arrest and sentencing of Japarov to over 11 years in jail on hostage-taking charges. tol-cr/jbr/lth
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