IBRA disputes PT Sempati Air appeal decision
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)