"Sanz has not officially confirmed this to KRY despite a request in writing, he has ignored them (as MinAmb did with the two appeals) - this is not a good omen."

Here is question and/or scenario, if RML was told by the gov't that they wanted them to make a bid for GRZ and GRZ's appeal for denial had just passed the deadline. This would keep GRZ in the dark on their status which would help keep their pps low for a buyout try from RML.

Would it have been smart for Sanz to respond to KRY's request for their status during that period?

IMO, I don't think so IF this was the scenario. If KRY received their status that their contract was ok I would think that GRZ's pps would have climbed on the assumption if KRY is good then GRZ is good. This would have made it even more difficult for Rusoro to make their hostile bid. Rusoro threw a lot of doubt out into the media that GRZ's status was not good with VZ. Why did they do that and make a point of it especially using Vheadline as their head hunters?