IBRA files suits against Tirtamas, West Kalindo
IBRA files suits against Tirtamas, West Kalindo
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA)
has filed bankruptcy claims with the Jakarta Commercial Court
against trading firm PT Tirtamas Comexindo and PT West Kalindo
Pulp Papermill.
In filing the bankruptcy claim against Tirtamas on Dec. 30,
IBRA was acting on behalf of closed Bank Tamara, which has claims
against the firm totaling Rp 38 billion, including unpaid
interest payments and penalties. The loans matured in August last
year.
The head of IBRA's legal division, Agustus Sani Nugroho, said
here on Monday the debt to Bank Tamara was just a portion of
Tirtamas' bad debts to banks under the control of IBRA. "From
there, we will move to recover all debts the company owes IBRA."
He said the company was uncooperative in working toward a
settlement of the debts, which total US$95.7 million and Rp 69.7
billion ($10 million).
"But, I should say here the recovery of assets from this
company might be much less than its debts because we mostly only
get personal guarantees from Hashim Djojohadikusumo."
One guarantee is nine million shares of PT Semen Cibinong,
which belongs to Hashim's Tirtamas Group.
Meanwhile, Benny Harman from Abdul Hakim G. Nusantara and
Partners law firm -- which is representing IBRA in its claim
against Tirtamas Comexindo -- proposed the court appoint an ad
hoc judge to assist the commercial court's judges in hearing his
client's case.
"Because of the complexity of the case, it needs the expertise
and special knowledge of ad hoc judges," Benny said.
The government, through a ministerial decree early last year,
appointed experts in business law to sit on a board of ad hoc
judges, whose task is to assist the commercial court judges in
their verdicts.
Nugroho also said IBRA filed a bankruptcy claim against West
Kalimantan-based PT West Kalindo Pulp Papermill. He said the
company failed to pay Rp 131 billion in debts, including unpaid
interest payments and penalties, to state-owned Bank Rakyat
Indonesia.
He also said the recovery of assets from the pulp and paper
mill would be much less than the company's debts as the value of
the assets used as collateral was much lower than the debts.
Among IBRA's numerous tasks under the government bank
restructuring program is recouping bad debts at state banks,
particularly debts of over Rp 5 billion.
Teguh Samudera -- a lawyer representing IBRA in its claim
against West Kalindo -- said the majority of the pulp company's
debt to the bank was made up of investment loans, while the
remaining was working capital loans.
The loans matured between December 1996 and August 1998
according to the bankruptcy suit filed by Teguh on Dec. 30.
"We are also naming two individuals, Thee Ning Khong and Hasan
Basuki -- the personal guarantors of the company's loans -- in
the bankruptcy claim," he said in the document.
The document was obtained by The Jakarta Post from the
commercial court on Monday.
These two bankruptcy claims filed by IBRA with the Jakarta
Commercial Court on Dec. 30 were the last two bankruptcy claims
filed in 1999. They were also the 99th and 100th claims filed
last year.
Both cases are scheduled to open this week.(udi/rid)