AJMI gets new receiver, resumes operations
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Commercial Court appointed a new receiver for PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI) on Thursday, paving the way for the firm to fully resume operations after it was forced to close its 73 branches last week following a controversial bankruptcy ruling.
AJMI, the local unit of Canada's giant insurer Manulife Financial Corp., is now waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on its appeal over the bankruptcy ruling.
"This means that we are now fully back in business, and we'll pay all (maturing) claims based on the approval of the new receiver," AJMI vice president Adhi Purnomo told The Jakarta Post.
On Thursday, the company reopened its offices. AJMI said earlier that it was seeking to immediately return to business once the court grants its request for a new receiver.
AJMI was declared bankrupt on June 13 by the Commercial Court in a controversial decision that not only strained relations between the Indonesian and Canadian governments, but also caused further harm to the country's already poor investment climate due to legal uncertainty.
Since the bankruptcy ruling, the company has not been able to make any business transactions, including paying maturing claims of policyholders. Several hospitals in Jakarta have even rejected patients with AJMI health insurance policies.
AJMI asked the court earlier this week to change the first receiver, Kalisutan, for being biased against the firm and intending to ruin the company while it waited for the Supreme Court's final decision.
The company also said that Kalisutan was linked to Manulife's former local partner, the now defunct PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera (DSS), which has been accused of trying to defraud the Canadian firm including via the bankruptcy lawsuit since Manulife acquired DSS's 40 percent stake in AJMI at a government auction in 2000.
The Commercial Court named Syarif Bastaman as the new receiver for AJMI.
But before the court came up with Thursday's decision, Kalisutan announced earlier in the day that he was voluntarily stepping down as the receiver for AJMI.
"After looking at the development of the case and comments from government officials, I have decided to resign," Kalisutan told reporters.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said separately on Thursday that Kalisutan was not fit to be a receiver because he was not a member of the receivers association as required by a decree issued by his office.
Yusril also said the investigation process into the three judges who made the bankruptcy ruling would be completed within 10 days. The ministry started the investigation on Monday over alleged bribery in the bankruptcy case.
The court issued the bankruptcy ruling after the receiver of DSS filed a lawsuit over an unpaid dividend in 1999, which AJMI said was not authorized by shareholders.
AJMI is actually a solvent company as acknowledged by the finance ministry.
The Canadian government had asked the Indonesian government to intervene to overturn the bankruptcy ruling, which was rejected by the latter on the grounds that it could not interfere with the judicial process, although it is public knowledge that the country's weak court system is prone to corruption.