Bank Bali's properties foreclosed

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta district court has ordered a foreclosure on two properties owned by Bank Bali located on Jalan Hayam Wuruk, West Jakarta, and in the Bintaro Jaya residential area, southwest of here.

The foreclosure was issued by Presiding Judge Djalius Amin at the request of Mrs. Gina Widjaya who has sued Bank Bali and its vice president Tan Tjio Tong for damages relating to a litigation case the defendants filed against the plaintiff and her husband, Bambang Sutrisno, in the Singapore High Court.

J.M. Sutarman, a lawyer for Mrs. Widjaya, said in a statement on Monday that Bank Bali's subsidiary, Hong Kong-registered Bali International Finance Ltd., and eight other Indonesian and foreign creditors had sued Bambang and her wife in the Singapore High Court over a bad loan which Bambang personally guaranteed.

The creditors won an injunction from the Singapore court to freeze the assets of Bambang and Mrs. Widjaya worldwide. Consequently Mrs. Widjaya sued Bank Bali in Jakarta early this month for damages incurred by the freezing of the assets.

She claimed that she had never given approval to her husband to pledge the assets they, as a legally married couple, owned jointly as securities to the loan.

She demanded that the guarantee and indemnity agreement between Bambang and Bank Bali be declared void.

However, Hotman Paris Hutapea, a lawyer for Bank Bali and Tan Tjio Tong, said on Monday her clients had never been summoned by the South Jakarta court to a hearing on the civil lawsuit. (rid/vin)