I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 

1. The present order deals with the procedural treatment of an Application for Dismissal of Claimants’ Claims Based on the Forged and Fabricated Ridlatama Mining Licenses (the “Application”) filed by the Republic of Indonesia (“Indonesia” or the “Respondent”) on 24 September 2014, by which the Respondent requests that the Tribunal: 

a. order the modification of the procedural timetable to schedule an immediate hearing on the forgery issues within the next 30 days, or sooner if feasible, to resolve the forgery allegations as a discrete issue; 

b. dismiss the Claimants’ claims as inadmissible by reason of their invalidity and illegality; and 

c. order the Claimants to pay the legal fees, expenses and other costs incurred by Respondent in connection with this Arbitration.1 

2. To put the Application in context, it is useful to recall certain events preceding the filing of the Application. On 29 August 2014, a document inspection took place in Singapore pursuant to Procedural Order No. 10 whereby the Respondent’s forensic experts inspected 31 original documents handed over by the Claimants, and the Claimants’ forensic experts inspected 6 original documents handed over by the Respondent. 

3. On 15 September 2014, the Respondent filed the Second Forensic Handwriting Examination Report by Mr. Gideon Epstein. That report states that the signatures of the Regent of East Kutai, Mr. H. Awang Faroek Ishak, on disputed mining licenses were not written by hand but were the result of a mechanical process named “autopen signature”. The report also indicates that the disputed signatures of Mr. H. Isran Noor on the so-called reenactment letters were also created through “autopen” technology.