Bank Exim rejects court's decision on bankruptcy ruling
Bank Exim rejects court's decision on bankruptcy ruling
JAKARTA (JP): Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia (Bank Exim) has
rejected the Jakarta Commercial Court's decision to turn down a
bankruptcy petition it filed against multifinance firm PT Pacific
International Finance, a unit of the defunct Bank Pacific.
Bank Exim's lawyer Friederich Yunadi of Yunadi & Associates
told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the court decision was
unfair.
He said his client had appealed to the Supreme Court, asking
it to approve the bankruptcy claim against the multifinance
company.
"We filed an appeal on Thursday because the court's ruling was
not wise," he said.
The commercial court rejected the bankruptcy claim filed by
Bank Exim on Wednesday on the grounds that the case lacked
"simplicity".
Yunadi said that Pacific International Finance owed Bank Exim
US$73 million in commercial notes, guaranteed by Bank Pacific,
one of the banks closed by the government in November.
A lawyer representing Pacific International, Doni Antares
Irawan, told the Post on Friday that the plaintiff should have
sued Bank Pacific as the guarantor for the notes.
"Since Bank Pacific was the guarantor, the plaintiff should
have filed a bankruptcy petition against it," he said.
He said the multifinance firm had sold all of its assets worth
Rp 2.3 trillion to Bank Pacific in August 1996 and the creditors
knew about the asset transfer.
"So it is not wise for Bank Exim to sue only Pacific
International, which sold its assets to the guarantor," he said.
Bank Exim's lawyer Yunadi, however, said the commercial
court's decision to turn down his client's insolvency claim
against Pacific International was against the principle of the
country's bankruptcy law.
It seems the judge does not really understand the law, he
said.
Since its opening in September, the Jakarta Commercial Court,
the first and only bankruptcy court in the country, has made
several controversial decisions.
Early last month, the commercial court declared property firm
Modernland Realty, with assets exceeding Rp 1 trillion, bankrupt
due to a minor claim worth Rp 94 million by two individual
apartment buyers. (aly)