Bahamian investors sue Indonesian firms for bankruptcy

JAKARTA (JP): Five investors from the Bahama Islands have filed bankruptcy petitions against five Indonesian firms for unpaid debts totaling some US$100 million.

According to copies of documents obtained by The Jakarta Post, the bankruptcy petitions were filed by the law office of Bernard Titus & Partners on behalf of the five Bahamas-based investors.

The five Bahamas investors, being represented by lawyer Titus Rimo, are Parkway Trading Limited, Comfort Group Limited, Gingo Investments Limited, Gemmy Investments Limited and Kenya Services Limited.

The five filed bankruptcy petitions against local firms PT Sumber Keramik Kharisma Dinamika, PT Kreasi Supradinamika Multicorpora, PT Widiamulia Prima Multicorpora, PT Metrotama Dunia and PT Indo Land Jaya.

According to the documents, in 1996 Sumber Keramik issued promissory notes to Parkway Trading amounting to $42.6 million. The due date of the notes fell in September 1997.

Kreasi Supradinamika issued promissory notes to Comfort Group in 1996 amounting to $17.95 million, which also were due in September 1997.

Widiamulia Prima issued promissory notes to Gingo Investment in 1996 totaling $16.5 million. These notes came due in October 1997.

Also in 1996, Metrotama Dunia and Indo Land issued promissory notes worth $11.5 million to Gemmy Investments and Kenya Services, respectively. Metrotama was due to pay back its debt in August 1997, while Indo Land's promissory notes were due in October 1997.

The Bahamas firms are asking the courts to declare the five local firms bankrupt and to allow them to seize the assets of the debtors. (bkm)