Commercial Court starts trial of Dharmala Sakti bankruptcy
Commercial Court starts trial of Dharmala Sakti bankruptcy
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court will hold the first
hearing of a US$2.4 million bankruptcy case between plaintiff PT
Hanil Bakrie Finance Corporation and defendant PT Dharmala Sakti
Sejahtera on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow is the first court hearing for our case," said the
plaintiff's lawyer, Rafael Adrian of Faisal & Panggabean law
firm, on Tuesday.
It is the second bankruptcy attempt by Hanil Bakrie against
Dharmala Sakti after its first attempt was foiled early last year
when the court ruled in favor of the defendant.
The first attempt was rejected as Dharmala Sakti was able to
convince the court that it had a debt restructuring agreement
with the plaintiff.
The validity of the debt agreement, which according to Hanil
never existed, was backed by a Supreme Court decision.
"We actually did not see it as an agreement. It was an offer
letter signed by them but never approved by Hanil Bakrie as there
was no counter-sign on the offer letter," Rafael said about the
agreement.
According to the controversial restructuring agreement, the
maturity of the Dharmala Sakti debt was rescheduled from July 7,
1998 to July 7, 1999.
"Hanil Bakrie conceded to this new 1999 maturity, but then
they still failed to pay," Rafael added.
Meanwhile, president of Hanil Bakrie said he had been cordial
toward Dharmala Sakti before finally deciding to take the case to
the courts.
He hopes the commercial court will recognize that no one dares
to make an investment in Indonesia without confidence of getting
their money back.
"We want to see justice in Indonesia. We consider the
bankruptcy petition against Dharmala Sakti as a litmus test for
the rule of law in Indonesia under newly elected President
Abdurrahman Wahid," he said.
Dharmala Sakti is a holding company of Dharmala Group, owned
by Gondokusumo family.
There are at least three companies affiliated to Dharmala
Group that have been declared bankrupt, namely, PT Dharmala
Agrifood, PT Putra Surya Multidana and foreign affiliate Detron
Ltd. of Singapore.
Another, PT Aster Dharma, was also declared bankrupt, but
later overruled by the Supreme Court through its civil review
decision late last year.(udi/rei)