Roman threatens to sue AGO over Manulife case<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The British Virgin Island-based Roman Gold
\nAssets plans to sue the Attorney General's Office if it stopped
\nits investigation into a share sale dispute against insurance
\ncompany PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI), a lawyer
\nrepresenting Roman said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Roman's legal representative Syamsul Arief said his client
\nhoped the police would continue to investigate the case.<\/p>\n
\"But if the Attorney General's Office issues the order to stop
\nthe investigation, we will sue them in the lower court,\" Syamsul
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The daily Bisnis Indonesia on Tuesday quoted Attorney General
\nMarzuki Darusman as saying that his office would most likely
\norder the police to stop its investigation into the case due to
\nlack of evidence.<\/p>\n
His office has reportedly rejected the police's dossiers on
\nthe case a number of times as detectives had failed to gather
\nconvincing evidence against AJMI.<\/p>\n
\"Marzuki is wrong, evidence against Manulife is so obvious,\"
\nSyamsul argued.<\/p>\n
Last year, Roman filed criminal charges against AJMI, accusing
\nthe latter of duplicating its shares to allow its Canadian parent
\ncompany Manufacturers Life Insurance (Manulife) to acquire a 40
\npercent stake in AJMI.<\/p>\n
Manulife bought AJMI's 40 percent stake for Rp 170 billion
\n(about US$14.2 million) from PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera through
\na public auction. PT Dharmala was declared bankrupt by the
\nCentral Jakarta Commercial Court in June last year.<\/p>\n
The proceeds of the sale were to be used to repay loans to
\nDharmala's creditors, including the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
\nAgency (IBRA).<\/p>\n
Roman, however, claimed that it was the rightful owner of
\nDharmala's 40 percent stake in AJMI, saying it owned AJMI's
\noriginal shares.<\/p>\n
The British Virgin Island company said it had purchased the
\nshares based on a power of attorney signed by Dharmala's former
\npresident in 1996.<\/p>\n
Syamsul questioned why the court went ahead with the sales of
\nAJMI's shares, after knowing there existed two sets of the same
\nshares.<\/p>\n
\"The court receiver should know that one of the two sets of
\nshares must have been a fake,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Until now, there is no clear explanation from the police as
\nto which of these shares are genuine.\"<\/p>\n
He said Roman's shares of AJMI were issued by AJMI and had
\nbelonged to Dharmala's former president Suyanto Gondokusumo.<\/p>\n
Suyanto then pledged his shares in AJMI to a number of firms
\nbefore Roman purchased them from a Singapore-based company a week
\nahead of Manulife's transaction, he explained.<\/p>\n
But Manulife suspected that Roman's transactions had been back
\ndated, and were conducted by paper companies established to
\nfacilitate such dubious transactions.<\/p>\n
\"What we want is for the court to cancel the share sale so
\nthat things are back to how they were before the sale,\" Syamsul
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Undeterred by growing international pressure behind the
\nManulife case, he said he was confident the case would be
\nresolved in Roman's favor.<\/p>\n
Foreign lenders have used the Manulife case to exemplify the
\nslow progress in Indonesia's struggle for legal reforms.<\/p>\n
They said a working bankruptcy court was vital in attracting
\nbadly needed foreign investment.<\/p>\n
But seeing the difficulties creditors are facing when bringing
\ndebtors to bankruptcy, foreign investors are skeptical of
\nIndonesia's legal system.<\/p>\n
According to Manulife managing director Chris Bendl, a
\nvisiting team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had met
\nwith him earlier this month to discuss the Manulife case.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, Bendl said the IMF said that its next
\nletter of intent (LoI) might include requirements to improve
\nIndonesia's legal system.<\/p>\n
The LoI contains a set of economic reform targets for
\nIndonesia to achieve before being eligible to receive the fund's
\nfinancial aids.<\/p>\n
Recent developments show that some progress in the Manulife
\ncase has been made.<\/p>\n
Last week, the police announced it had named Dharmala's
\nSuyanto as a suspect in the Manulife case.<\/p>\n
Suyanto's lawyer John Waliring, however, said his client was
\nnot available for police questioning.<\/p>\n
He said since last year, Suyanto had been undergoing
\npsychiatric treatment in a Singapore hospital.<\/p>\n
In Hong Kong, Bendl said, police had issued an arrest warrant
\nfor the president of a local company, which managed the various
\npaper companies involved in the transaction of AJMI's
\nshares.(bkm)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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