Lawyer defends court's decision on Roche's case
Lawyer defends court's decision on Roche's case
JAKARTA (JP): The lawyer for drug distribution company PT
Perusahaan Dagang Tempo, defended on Thursday the South Jakarta
District Court's decision to sequester the assets of drug company
PT Roche Indonesia at the request of his client.
Amir Syamsudin and partners said the court's sequestration
ruling was legitimate and the legal process in the court was not
in conflict with the arbitration clause in the distribution
contract signed by both parties.
He admitted that under the distribution contract Tempo and
Roche had agreed to settle disputes through arbitration, but, he
said, Tempo could still file a suit against Roche as long as the
case pertains to "purely juridical matters".
"We want to emphasize that dispute settlement through
arbitration is only necessary as long as the dispute pertains to
business technical matters, including product quality, delivery,
pricing, or payment," the law firm said in the statement.
"As long as the case is concerning purely juridical matters,
the right to examine the case lies with judges not arbiters," it
added.
The firm made the statement in denial to Roche's lawyer Todung
Mulya Lubis's allegation that the court's sequestration ruling
was illegitimate as it had no right to examine the dispute given
the fact both parties had agreed to settle all the disputes
through arbitration.
"The district court is incompetent to try a dispute of
parties bound in an arbitration agreement," Lubis said on
Wednesday in a press conference, quoting Law No. 30/1999 on
arbitration and alternative dispute settlement.
Lubis said the decision underlined legal uncertainty in the
country and could further hurt the confidence of foreign
investors in Indonesia which is anxiously wooing back investors
to the country.
Tempo filed a suit against Roche at the South Jakarta District
Court last October for annulling the contract that appointed the
former as a distributor of Roche's generic and over-the-counter
(OTC) drug products on the domestic market.
Generic and OTC products are drugs that can be consumed
without a doctor's prescriptions.
Roche said under the contract, it could terminate the contract
without giving reasons to Tempo.
The court ruled on Oct. 26 to sequester the assets of Roche,
including its land and factory in Cimanggis, Bogor; its machines
and all manufacturing equipment on the land and in the factory;
as well as spare parts and half-finished and finished goods
there.
According to Lubis, the court made the decision without
allowing Roche to defend itself.(jsk)