Dutch firm appeals ship's seizure

Dutch firm appeals ship's seizure

JAKARTA (JP): A Dutch firm has appealed to the Riau High Court
over a July 2000 verdict by Batam District Court that endorsed
the seizure of one of its ships and punished its captain for sand
smuggling.

Noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, who is representing the
company, Ballast Nedam Far East Pte. Ltd., said in a statement on
Thursday that the firm appealed to the High Court on Tuesday,
asking it to annul the district court's decision.

The verdict ordered the seizure of the dredger, HD Amsterdam
Zeist, and sentenced in absentia its Dutch captain, Leutscher
Erik, to three years in jail and fined him Rp 500 million
(US$58,823).

"The Batam district court has failed to uphold justice and
damaged our Constitution," Nasution said in a statement.

"The sand dredging was carried out in line with an agreement
between Ballast Nedam and two local firms, PT Indoguna Yuda Nusa
and PT Barelang Sugi Bulan.

"But, only the Dutch firm was sentenced by the district court,
while the two local ones were acquitted on all the charges," he
said.

Nasution said Ballast Nedam only bought the sand from the
local firms. The three firms had cooperated from October 1997
until early 1999.

They had agreed to extend the cooperation, which required that
the local firms provide all the necessary documents, when the
ship was seized on Feb. 7 by Indonesian Navy warship KRI Sikuda.

On July 10, Batam District Court issued the ruling to seize
the vessel and sentenced the captain, who was found guilty of
attempting to steal 3,000 cubic meters of sand from Teluk Jodoh,
Batam island, last year.

The captain is believed to have fled to Singapore aboard the
vessel on June 10, 2000, after its owner submitted a request to
the court to leave Tanjung Guncang port for repairs. (jun)