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ondon-listed Bumi plc said on Friday that a review of the books of one of its Indonesian units, PT Berau Coal Energy, had revealed that about US$201 million was spent on inappropriate business purposes.

About $152 million went '€œmissing'€ from Berau in 2012 and another $49 million in 2011, said Bumi plc, which is at the center of an ownership dispute between its founders, the Bakrie family and British financier Nathaniel Rothschild.

 '€œAn extensive review of the financial position of PT Berau was undertaken, which identified expenditure that could not be substantiated as having a clear business purpose,'€ Bumi plc, which has a 87.4 percent stake in Berau, said in a statement.

The missing funds, related to expenditure on the development of hauling roads, land payments and consulting costs, were classified as '€œother exceptional costs'€ in the company'€™s delayed financial report. '€œThe company is to pursue all means available for the recovery of all such expenditure,'€ the statement added.

Meanwhile Rothschild said that Bumi plc had found clear fraud in Berau. '€œWe'€™ve established now that there has been clear fraud at Berau and the plc board has been astonishingly slow to act,'€ Bloomberg reported Rothschild as saying '€œit'€™s absolutely appalling'€. He called on chairman Samin Tan, due to be replaced in a few weeks, to immediately resign from the board.

Shares in Berau in Jakarta fell 1.5 percent on Friday following Bumi plc'€™s announcement. Trading in Bumi plc'€™s shares has been suspended due to the late submission of its 2012 financial report caused by the review of Berau.

The Berau review also caused a two-month delay in the issuance of Bumi plc'€™s financial reports. Bumi plc reported on Friday $1.53 billion in revenues in 2012, an increase of 8.8 percent from $1.41 billion in the 2011 report, which has been restated to show exceptional costs and asset write-offs.

Despite this increase, Bumi plc suffered an impairment charge amounting to $815 million as it wrote down the value of Berau and booked a $1.39 billion loss from reclassifying its stake in PT Bumi Resources (BUMI) from a subsidiary to an investment.

Consequently, Bumi plc recorded a net loss of $2.32 billion in 2012, a massive setback compared to the $337 million loss in 2011.

Bumi plc, which holds a 29.2 percent stake in BUMI, has been in the spotlight since late 2011 over a dispute between the Bakrie Group and co-founder Rothschild. The dispute has descended into board room battles, email hacking, alleged misuse of funds, directors stepping down and in turn a separation proposal.

Bakrie Group has proposed to take back Bumi plc'€™s stake in BUMI in a share swap and cash transaction amounting to $278 million. Bumi plc and Bakrie Group agreed to sign a definitive agreement on the separation by May 30 and pay the necessary funds five days after. The deadline has been extended to June 26.

Bumi plc said that it was preparing a circular to convene a general meeting at which it would put the separation transaction to a shareholder vote.

Bakrie Group senior vice president Christopher Fong said that the vote would likely be held after Bumi plc'€™s annual general meeting on June 26. He said that Bakrie Group had prepared the necessary funds to complete the transaction.

With its shareholders in fierce dispute over ownership, BUMI faced another problem as a contractor at its subsidiary halted operations at the company'€™s mining sites.

Sydney based Leighton Holdings said on Friday that its subsidiary, Thiess, had suspended operations at the Senakin and Satui mines owned by PT Arutmin Indonesia, which is 70 percent owned by BUMI and 30 percent by Tata Steel.

'€œThiess decided to suspend operations as it pursued Arutmin for the payment of net project receivables, or underclaims, to which Leighton has a contractual entitlement,'€ Leighton said in a statement.

Leighton did not detail the value of the payments it was pursuing. However, BUMI'€™s first quarter financial report stated that Thiess claimed standby costs in Satui and Senakin and yields from Senakin washplants estimated to amount to $16.5 million.

After a counterclaim by Arutmin, Theiss reduced the claim to $8.5 million. No result emerged from mediation in 2012 and settlement in court is expected, according to BUMI'€™s report.

BUMI director and corporate secretary Dileep Srivastava was unavailable for comment on Friday.