Court set to rule on Sumi Asih next week
Court set to rule on Sumi Asih next week
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court will decide next
week whether or not to accept the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency's (IBRA) bankruptcy claim against palm oil processor PT
Sumi Asih.
"We will study the case and issue the verdict next Thursday,"
presiding judge I Gde Nyoman Putra told the courtroom.
IBRA filed a bankruptcy suit against Sumi Asih in late March
for overdue debts, as claimed by IBRA, of Rp 25 billion and
US$6.2 million.
Sumi Asih disputed the accuracy of the amount of unpaid debts
claimed by IBRA and charged the agency with being inconsistent in
stating the amount of debts Sumi Asih owed.
The lawyer representing Sumi Asih, Hotman Paris Hutapea, cited
as an example the amount of unpaid debts officially acknowledged
by IBRA between March and November 1998 was $1.4 million and Rp
3.5 billion, much less than the above.
Hotman also said Sumi Asih had transferred some money to repay
part of its debts in late 1998 and early 1999, but to the bank
account of an individual instead of to IBRA's official bank
account.
IBRA's lawyer, Kitty Sugondo Kramadibrata, said the changing
amount of debts was natural and logical considering that when
debts were not paid on time they would incur interest and
therefore increase.
"Besides, the essence of a bankruptcy suit is the existence of
a matured and unpaid debt, and two or more creditors," she said.
Concerning the different amount of debts claimed by the two
parties, she said, it could be taken care of later during the
verification process which would be mediated by the court.
Besides Sumi Asih, IBRA brought two other debtors to the
commercial court, namely, trading firms A Latief Corporation
which owes the agency some $16.93 million in bad debts and
diversified PT Ometraco Corporation with $53.18 million in debt.
IBRA requested "ad hoc" judges to examine all the above three
bankruptcy cases, but was turned down as these independent judges
-- recruited from outside the court -- were not officially
installed yet by the government. (udi)