IBRA disputes PT Sempati Air appeal decision
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) refuted on Thursday the Supreme Court's decision to sustain the lower court's bankruptcy verdict against PT Sempati Air.
Taufik Hais, a lawyer representing IBRA, said that the decision was unfair and IBRA would ask the Supreme Court to review the verdict.
"We will seek a civil review in the Supreme Court because the appeal decision does not reflect a correct application of the law," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said the Supreme Court made the verdict on Aug. 25, but his law firm received a document containing the verdict only three days ago.
Sempati, which ceased operations in June last year, filed for insolvency at the Jakarta Commercial Court in mid-June.
The commercial court then accepted Sempati's bankruptcy petition against itself and declared the airline bankrupt in early July.
The court reasoned that Sempati did not have adequate funds to operate as an airline and it had a large amount of matured debts it was not able to settle.
Therefore, it was necessary to declare the airline bankrupt 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 court added.
Under the 1998 Law on Bankruptcy, a plaintiff is allowed to appeal for a civil review if he or she is able to prove that there was either a serious misapplication of the law or discovery of new evidence.
Not in agreement with the court decision, IBRA -- acting as one of Sempati's creditors on behalf of state Bank Export Import (Exim) and taken-over Bank Central Asia (BCA) -- filed an appeal to the Supreme Court requesting a revocation of the airline's insolvency status.
IBRA, an agency under the Ministry of Finance which is responsible to restructure the country's troubled companies, has taken over about Rp 230 trillion in nonperforming loans from closed, nationalized and state banks, including those from Bank Exim and BCA.
IBRA said that Sempati had to settle its matured debts with Exim and BCA before it filed itself for bankruptcy.
Sempati owes at least Rp 400 billion to both Exim and Bank Central Asia, Taufik 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.
Sempati's bankruptcy raised suspicion among the airlines' creditors who claimed the bankruptcy petition could have been engineered by the airline so it could avoid paying its debts.
Sempati has debts 15 times larger than its assets. As of June 8, 1999, it owes Rp 464 billion (about US$60.2 million) to 487 creditors and 321 suppliers, plus another $103.92 million in U.S. dollar-denominated debts, Sempati's lawyer Yan Apul said.
Sempati's assets amounted to Rp 83.42 billion as of the same date, Yan added. (udi)