Creditors displeased by court decision for Sempati

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Commercial Court declared private airline PT Sempati Air bankrupt on Monday at the company's request, the first such ruling since the court was established in September last year.

The airline's creditors voiced their displeasure with the court's decision, saying the bankruptcy petition could have been engineered by the airline to allow it to avoid paying its debts.

Presiding judge Victor Hutabarat said there were more than 20 factors the court took into consideration when voting in favor of the airline's bankruptcy petition.

"Sempati, for example, does not have adequate funds to operate as an airline and it has a large amount of matured debt it is not able to settle," Victor said.

The judge added that the airline had ceased to operate in June last year and, for all purposes, no longer had any employees.

The court's ruling in favor of Sempati was therefore necessary to secure the airline's assets and allow all creditors to receive a proportional amount of the company's liquidation proceeds as debt repayment, the judge 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 ceased operations in June last year, filed for insolvency at the Jakarta Commercial Court on June 17.

The airline's creditors said there were indications of fraud behind Sempati's bankruptcy petition.

"Shareholders of Sempati might have engineered this creative bankruptcy to fob off debts, while protecting their own personal wealth," a lawyer representing one of Sempati's creditors, who requested anonymity, said after the verdict.

He said the airline's shareholders should use their personal assets to repay creditors' money.

According to the airline's lawyer Yan Apul, Sempati had debts 15 times larger than its assets, based on the company's latest balance sheet.

Sempati owes Rp 464 billion (about US$70.4 million) to 487 creditors and 321 suppliers, plus another $103.92 million in United States dollar denominated debt, as of June 8, 1999, he said.

Sempati's assets amounted to Rp 83.42 billion as of the same date, Yan added.

Ricardo Simanjuntak of Gani Djemat & Partners law firm, which represents PT PANN Multifinance, one of Sempati's creditors, said the court needed to check whether there was any transfer of Sempati's assets prior to their filing for bankruptcy.

"Any transfer of assets out of Sempati would have to be canceled because that would disadvantage creditors to the value of those assets transferred," he said.

According to the 1998 Bankruptcy Law, the court should cancel any transfer of assets during the one year prior to the company's bankruptcy.

Ricardo said it was possible that shareholders transferred some of the airline's assets before the company filed for bankruptcy.

"Who knows. They may have transferred ownership (of assets) from Sempati to themselves or other third parties," he said.

Ricardo also said it was possible that the mismanagement of Sempati by the then board of directors or, indirectly, by the company's commissioners, could be used as the basis for the court to seize their personal assets to help pay Sempati's debts.

The court approved Sempati's proposal to name Munir Fuady, from the law firm Fuady, Tommy and Aji Widjaya, the receiver to carry out the liquidation of the company.(udi)