Justice Minister Muladi urges creditors to settle feuds locally
Justice Minister Muladi urges creditors to settle feuds locally
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Muladi advised Indonesian
creditors on Thursday to respect the country's judicial system
and settle disputes with debtors in domestic courts.
He told reporters disputes involving business deals concluded
under Indonesian law should be settled under the country's
judicial system and not foreign ones, the approach taken by Bank
Bali in the Singapore high court.
"Judges here are obviously the ones who have mastered the
Indonesian laws," Muladi said.
He believed litigation involving Bank Bali and Bambang
Sutrisno should be moved back to the Indonesian court system.
Muladi was responding to a reporter's question about the
tendency of Indonesian creditors to settle disputes with debtors
through the Singapore judicial system, renowned for the integrity
of its judges.
Several legislators attacked Bank Bali last week for its move
in filing the civil lawsuit against Sutrisno, a former
shareholder of defunct Bank Surya and PT Surya Supratama Finance,
over a loan default.
House members labeled Bank Bali's behavior unpatriotic.
Bank Bali's Hong Kong unit, Bali International Finance Ltd.,
together with eight mostly Hong Kong subsidiaries of Indonesian
financial institutions, lent US$16.5 million to the Jakarta-based
Surya Supratama in August 1997. The loan was personally
guaranteed by Sutrisno, the company's owner.
The creditors filed suit in Singapore against Sutrisno when
the loan went sour last year. The Singapore high court granted an
injunction to the nine creditors to freeze assets of Sutrisno in
Singapore.
Bank Bali's lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea defended his client's
action, saying the island-state was Sutrisno's most recent
domicile and where most of his assets are located.
Sudjono, the attorney representing Sutrisno and also the
deputy chairman of the Indonesian Bar Association, argued the
dispute should have been arbitrated in an Indonesian court, as
required in the indemnity and guarantee agreement between Bali
International and Sutrisno.
Sudjono also contended Sutrisno had sold his entire stake in
Surya Supratama and thus the company's liabilities were the
responsibility of the new owners.
Lawyers here said creditors would usually attempt to ascertain
the location of most of the debtor's assets before deciding where
to file suit.
Sudjono challenged Bank Bali to prove its claim that the bulk
of Sutrisno's assets were in Singapore.