Court denies Dharmala bankruptcy petition
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court turned down on Monday a bankruptcy petition filed by multifinance firm PT Hanil Bakrie Finance against publicly listed PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera.
Presiding judge Victor Hutabarat said that the court rejected the plea because the two firms were still involved in negotiations.
"Since the two firms are still involved in negotiations, we cannot approve the bankruptcy petition," he said.
The plaintiff's lawyer Yan Apul of the Yan Apul law firm insisted that the verdict had disappointed his client because PT Dharmala Sakti had already failed to pay off its debts which had fallen due.
"All debts are due and payable," he said, adding that his client had met all the basic requirements for filing a bankruptcy petition.
PT Hanil Bakrie Finance, a joint venture firm between Hanil Leasing Company Ltd. of Korea and the Bakrie Group, lodged a bankruptcy petition against PT Dharmala early last month seeking the recovery of US$2.2 million in promissory notes.
All the debts fell due on July 8 last year.
Yan Apul said that his client would consider appealing to the Supreme Court.
"We will make an appeal in the next two days," he said.
Hanil Bakrie's president S.C. Chung separately told The Jakarta Post that the verdict would further damage the prospects of the lending and borrowing environment in Indonesia.
"The verdict is a bad precedent for the country and it will have a severe impact on the borrowing climate in the future," he said.
Last week, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal by the International Finance Corporation -- the private investment arm of the World Bank -- together with ING Indonesia Bank and publicly listed Bank Niaga to declare food producer PT Dharmala Agrifood bankrupt after their previous petition was thrown out by the Jakarta Commercial Court early December last year.
Both PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera and PT Dharmala Agrifood are subsidiaries of the widely-diversified Dharmala Group.
In another development, the Jakarta commercial court also rejected on Friday an insolvency petition filed by the defunct Bank Yama against sports equipment producer PT Nassau Sports Indonesia on Monday because the former was a secured creditor.
Presiding judge Joedijono said that as a secured creditor, Bank Yama could not file an insolvency petition with the commercial court.
Bank Yama lodged a bankruptcy petition against PT Nassau early this month over the latter's failure to repay a total US$1.5 million in loans obtained from the bank in 1996.
The plaintiff's lawyer Dauly of Dauly and Associates law firm was considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. (aly)