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The attack may not have been as fierce as a pounce by a Komodo dragon, but organizers of the New7Wonders competition on Wednesday took a swipe at Indonesia’s ambassador to Switzerland, who had earlier questioned their organization.

Komodo National Park is among the finalists in the competition, but that hasn’t stopped the government and the Zurich-based New7Wonders Foundation, which organizes the campaign, from trading barbs.

Djoko Susilo, the ambassador to Switzerland, earlier this month questioned the credibility of the foundation. He said its address was unclear, its Web site was registered in Panama and not Switzerland, and that the company was practically bankrupt.

Jean-Paul de la Fuente, business development director of New7Wonders, said N7W AG, a limited company, was formed in 2000 to organize the business aspects of the N7W campaigns.

“However, in 2003, the N7W AG company was closed, following a standard procedure for closing companies that is probably the same worldwide,” he said in a statement. “Since 2004 the global business aspects of the N7W campaigns, and therefore for the past seven years, have been managed by NOWC Panama, the commercial licensing arm of the N7W campaigns.

De la Fuente stressed that the company had not been closed because it was bankrupt. He said it was a necessary change in company structure.

“N7W AG was categorically not bankrupt and indeed such a statement is defamatory and false. Perhaps the ambassador needs to improve his German language and business knowledge skills,” he said.

De la Fuente said he was prevented from taking legal action against Djoko because the ambassador had diplomatic immunity.

Indonesia and New7Wonders became embroiled in a dispute after the foundation claimed that the Ministry of Tourism had reneged on a commitment to host an event to announce the competition’s winners.

The disagreement grew increasingly bitter, with the two sides haggling over expenses and local sponsors who would promote and host the event.

In August, the ministry tried to have Komodo National Park officially withdrawn from the competition after it had been named one of the 28 finalists chosen in an earlier round of voting from among 77 locations.

A private group has since taken over the task of mobilizing support for Komodo Park and according to the latest count, the park has made it into the top 10.

Preliminary results from the final round of voting are expected to be announced in Zurich on Friday.