Bankruptcy case filed against BMC ata Jakarta commercial court

JAKARTA: State-owned financing firm PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia (BPUI) has filed bankruptcy allegations against investment firm PT Bhinneka Multi Corporation (BMC) with the Central Jakarta Commercial Court.

Bahana claims that BMC has failed to pay back its loans and thus should be declared bankrupt.

According to Bahana, BMC's debt owed to it stands at Rp 235.7 billion (US$23.5 million).

On Monday, the court's panel of judges concluded their initial examination of the case, and are expected to deliver a verdict on Nov. 30.

"BPUI has requested that BMC be declared bankrupt as a legal resolution, after repeated debt rescheduling attempts between the two parties failed," lawyer Robin Siagian, who represented BPUI, explained.

BPUI said that BMC's liabilities came from a working capital loan it had given to the financial holding company back in 1997. Attempts to resolve the debts began in 2001, but then faltered without results.

Lawyer Syahrial Ridho, who represented BMC, was unavailable for comments.

BPUI is jointly owned by the Ministry of Finance and Bank Indonesia. -- JP