Eddy Pianto optimistic to win
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A lawyer voiced optimism about winning a court battle against the Indonesian affiliate of U.S. based PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) after gaining support from the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU).
Wawan Iriawan, who represents accountant Eddy Pianto, said the recent ruling by the KPPU against PwC-affiliated accounting firm Hadi Sutanto and Associates, would strengthen his client's position in his legal dispute with the firm.
"We shall present the KPPU's ruling as evidence in court," Wawan said.
Eddy filed in March a lawsuit against Hadi Sutanto as well as state owned telecommunciation firm PT Telkom, the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) and accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu for illegalities that harmed his reputation and inflicted losses on him.
He demanded compensation amounting to Rp 7.84 trillion (about US$834 million).
Eddy was the former auditor of Telkom. The legal battle began after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Telkom's 2002 financial report. Telkom later appointed Hadi Sutanto, the auditor of PT Telkomsel, a subsidiary of Telkom, to reaudit the financial report.
The SEC rejected the Telkom 2002 financial report because it was considered incomplete as Hadi Sutanto refused to give a consent letter to Eddy to use its audit report on Telkomsel, Telkom's cellular subsidiary.
Aside from filing the lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court, Eddy also filed a request for the KPPU to examine the case.
Last week, the KPPU ruled that Hadi Sutanto had engaged in unfair practices and imposed a fine of Rp 20 billion.
One of the reasons cited by Hadi Sutanto for his refusal to give a consent letter to Eddy to use the Telkomsel audit was that the former doubted the latter's qualifications to audit the company in line with SEC rules.
Hadi Sutanto said it feared the potential risks of being implicated in case of any mistakes made by Eddy.
The KPPU insisted, however, that Hadi Sutanto had no right to judge the qualifications of Eddy.
"The right to judge (Eddy's qualifications) lies with the SEC. Hadi Sutanto should have asked for clarification from the SEC. But, it did not do that," KPPU said.
Hadi Putranto's office refused to comment on Monday. A secretary named Gesty failed to send a press statement which she promised on Monday.