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.