Court tells Lippo, critic to make peace
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A court has urged a commissioner of Bank Lippo and noted analyst Lin Che Wei to reach an out-of-court settlement within one week in their dispute over a number of articles written by Lin on misleading financial reports filed by Lippo.
Presiding judge Mohammad Saleh, in the first hearing of the case in the Central Jakarta District Court, said both parties should consider reaching an out-of-court settlement as the legal process could turn out to be long and exhausting.
However both sides showed no sign that they would abide by the judge's suggestion.
"Our client is open to an out-of-court settlement but until this moment we have not received a proposal from the accused (Lin Che Wei)," said Chalid Luis Heyder of Hutabarat, Halim & Partners, the law firm representing Lippo commissioner Rudi Toha Bachrie.
"There won't be any settlement proposal from us," Lin said during the court session.
In several articles published in Kompas in mid-February, Lin warned the public to be careful of buying Lippo stock, saying he suspected share-price manipulation by Lippo management. He also questioned the actions being taken by the authorities to prevent or stop such alleged manipulation.
Lin said Lippo management had systematically pushed down the price of Lippo stock so that the government, as the owner of a 59 percent stake in the bank, would have its shareholding diluted. This was designed to pave the way for the former owners of the bank, Mochtar Riyadi's family, who now own 30 percent of Lippo, to regain control.
In 1999, the government injected about Rp 6 trillion in bailout funds into the bank, which gave it a 60 percent stake in Lippo.
On Feb. 21, Rudi filed a defamation lawsuit against Lin.
According to court documents made available to The Jakarta Post, Rudi is demanding Rp 103 billion (US$11.59 million) in compensation, saying Lin's articles had damaged his reputation and credibility. Also, he said the articles caused Lippo to suffer financial losses as it resulted in a decrease in Lippo's share price and forced Lippo to spend money to clarify the situation to various parties, including the government, investors, and the public, and to hire lawyers.
Lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta, who is representing Lin, said his client could not be accused of defamation, because as an independent analyst he was writing for the public who had a right to know both "good and bad" information.
Moreover, he said, in his article Lin did not name any culprits behind the alleged Lippo share price manipulation.
"My client will not correct his article, will not apologize and will not stop writing," Frans said.