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Bennett Environmental Inc.: Bennett Environmental Inc. Announces Appeal Result

^{Published on 2009-03-06 13:42:53, Last Modified on 2009-03-06 13:43:54 - Market Wire}
 

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 6, 2009) - Bennett Environmental Inc. (TSX:BEV) (the "Company" or "BEI") announced today that the Court of Appeal for Ontario has ruled that the Company must indemnify BEI's former chairman, Mr. John Bennett, for the fines and costs imposed on him by the Ontario Securities Commission ("OSC"), totaling $300,000. The fines arose out of disclosure issues that occurred in the time period 2003-2004 related to the Federal Creosote project in New Jersey (the "Project"). In the settlement agreement he entered into with the OSC in Q4 2006 Mr. Bennett acknowledged that he had violated applicable securities legislation. He subsequently claimed indemnification from the Company for the fine and costs imposed on him by the OSC. The court also ruled that the Company is not entitled to offset payments made on Mr. Bennett's behalf in connection with the Project against pension and consulting payments due to him. All of the amounts above have previously been expensed by the Company.

Mr. Jack Shaw, President and CEO of BEI, had the following comments on the decision. "It is regrettable that the shareholders of the Company will ultimately bear the cost of the fines and costs imposed on Mr. Bennett. Mr. Bennett acknowledged as part of his OSC settlement agreement that his actions violated securities legislation. Unfortunately the OSC did not, as it has in other cases, prohibit Mr. Bennett from seeking indemnification from the Company."

As has been previously announced the Company continues to pursue a $10 million claim against Mr. Bennett alleging that he knew or should have known of the matters that led to the Company recently being convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud. In December 2008, the Company was sentenced under a felony charge related to bidding for the Federal Creosote project that occurred at a time that Mr. Bennett was Chairman and CEO. Also in December 2008, a former senior executive of the Company who reported directly to Mr. Bennett pled guilty to a similar charge. As we have announced previously the United States Department of Justice is leading a civil investigation into the same matter.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release and in certain documents incorporated by reference into this press release constitute forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and "confident" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. BEI believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference into, this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. BEI undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Bennett Environmental Inc.

Bennett Environmental Inc. is a North American leader in high temperature treatment services for the treatment of contaminated soil and has provided thermal solutions to contamination problems throughout Canada and the U.S. Bennett Environmental's technology provides for the safe, economical and permanent solution to contaminated soil. Independent testing has consistently proven that the technology operates well within the most stringent criteria in North America. For information, please visit the Bennett Environmental website at: [ www.bennettenv.com ].