Expert witness says lawsuit against Che Wei groundless<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
An expert witness told the Central Jakarta District Court on
\nMonday that the Rp 103 billion (US$11.59 million) libel charges
\nfiled by Bank Lippo against capital market analyst Lin Che Wei
\nwere groundless.<\/p>\n
Sutan Remy Sjahdeini, a business law professor, told the court
\nthat Lin Che Wei did the right thing as an analyst by
\npublicizing the abnormalities regarding Bank Lippo activities on
\nthe capital market.<\/p>\n
Remy said nothing was improper about the use of the terms
\n\"cooking the books\" or \"robbing\" in Lin Che Wei's articles,
\nbecause they were commonly used terms among analysts.<\/p>\n
\"Lin Che Wei used common words, therefore there is no
\nslandering here,\" he added.<\/p>\n
\"Moreover, not a single name was mentioned in his articles ...
\nso, by law, should the bank as an institution object to the
\narticles, then any lawsuits should be in the name of the board of
\ndirectors and not of the commissioners.\"<\/p>\n
He referred to Law No. 1\/1995 on limited corporations.<\/p>\n
Monday's hearing was the last to hear witnesses.<\/p>\n
Presiding Judge Mohamad Saleh adjourned the hearing until May
\n29 to hear closing arguments from both the accused and the
\nplaintiff's legal teams.<\/p>\n
In February, Bank Lippo commissioner Rudi Toha Bachrie sued
\nLin Che Wei over the latter's analysis on the bank, accusing the
\nanalyst of slander.<\/p>\n
Lin Che Wei's pieces, published in Kompas on February 14 and
\nFebruary 19, questioned a systematic drop of the bank's stock
\nprice and another significant drop of the foreclosed assets
\n(AYDA) price that could lead to a great loss to the state.<\/p>\n
The bank made certain decisions that some experts said were an
\neffort from the old owners to buy back the shares at a discounted
\nprice so they could become a majority shareholder over the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
The government injected bailout funds into the bank in 1999
\nand now owns a 59 percent stake in Bank Lippo.<\/p>\n
Rudi, who is one of the bank's founders, filed the lawsuit,
\nsaying Che Wei's actions had damaged the commissioner's
\nreputation and credibility.<\/p>\n
Such actions, they said, had also caused a decrease in Lippo's
\nshare prices due to the articles and damaged Lippo's reputation
\nwith the government, investors, shareholders and other
\nstakeholders as well the costs incurred in hiring lawyers for the
\ncase.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/expert-witness-says-lawsuit-against-che-wei-groundless-1447893297",
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