Court set to decide Sempati case in July

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court will hand down a verdict on July 5 on dissolved private airline PT Sempati Air's bankruptcy petition, the airline's lawyer said on Thursday.

Yan Apul acknowledged that some Sempati creditors might oppose the bankruptcy petition due to fears existing assets would not be enough to cover its huge debts.

"We will show to the court Sempati's balance sheet, which can clearly tell that the company's debt is 15 times larger than its assets' value," he said.

Sempati Air is partly owned by former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and the family's longtime associate Mohamad "Bob" Hasan. The airline, which stopped operation in June last year due to what were termed "serious cash-flow problems", filed for insolvency status with the court.

"The purpose of Sempati filing a bankruptcy petition against itself is to have a timely liquidation process and to allow all creditors to share the company's assets justly," Yan Apul said.

Sempati is unable to pay its debts but no creditors have filed bankruptcy claims against the firm, he added.

Sempati owed Rp 464 billion (about US$70.4 million) to 487 creditors and 321 suppliers, plus $103.92 million of debt, as of June 8, 1999, Yan Apul said.

Sempati's assets amounted to Rp 83.42 billion on the same date, he said.

The airline gradually laid-off its employees and closed its branch offices in the past year. (udi)