Hartono in dispute with Tomy

Hartono in dispute with Tomy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Entertainment businessman Hartono Setyawan filed an appeal with
the Supreme Court on Monday in his dispute with businessman Tomy
Winata over the Planet Bali entertainment center.

Hartono won his legal battle against Tomy at the Central
Jakarta District Court in September 2001, but lost the appeal
filed by Tomy with the Jakarta High Court in August 2002.

Hartono's lawyer Azas Tigor Nainggolan said the dispute
between the two businessmen began when Hartono experienced
financial difficulty in 1996 because his creditor, PT Bank
Tamara, could not continue funding his Planet Bali one-stop
entertainment center project.

Tomy, a commissioner at PT Bank Artha Graha, which acquired PT
Bank Tamara, then agreed to act as Hartono's creditor so
construction on Planet Bali could continue.

In exchange, Hartono agreed to sign over several assets as
collateral for his Rp 8.5 million (US$1 million) in loans from
Bank Artha Graha. Among the assets were properties on Jl. WR
Supratman in Surabaya, on Jl. Prapanca Raya in South Jakarta, and
on Batam island in Riau province.

An article of the loan document signed by Hartono states that
Bank Artha Graha, as the creditor, has the right to terminate the
agreement and demand Hartono to repay the loan immediately if the
license permits for the project are revoked.

Tigor said Tomy had taken advantage of Hartono's compromised
position to force him to sign an unfair agreement. "It can be
categorized as abusing the situation, which is illegal in any
agreement."

After completion of construction, Planet Bali was officially
opened by then Badung regent I Gusti Alit Putra on Aug. 8, 1997.
Two days later, the Badung regency administration revoked the
permits required for the project.

According to the appeal filed by Hartono, among the reasons
cited by the Badung regency administration for revoking the
project's permits were that the permits for the project were not
allowed to be in the name of Hartono, that Planet Bali could not
be used as the name of the project and that the purple paint used
for the building was unacceptable.

The administration said the name Planet Bali and the purple
paint of the building had sexual connotations. Tigor called this
reasoning ridiculous.

After the project's permits were revoked, Bank Artha Graha
demanded Hartono hand over the assets he had pledged as
collateral for his loan and seized Planet Bali.