Manulife bid to unveil Harvest owners dismissed

Manulife bid to unveil Harvest owners dismissed

JAKARTA (JP): A Hong Kong court has dismissed an application
by Canadian insurance company Manufacturer's Life Insurance
(Manulife) seeking the disclosure of the principals of the Hong
Kong-based Harvest Hero International Ltd.

The court's verdict, a copy of which was received by The
Jakarta Post on Thursday, dismissed Manulife's application for
the disclosure of the identities of the shareholders and
management of Harvest.

Hong Kong judge William Stone said in a verdict signed on
March 1 that Manulife's application was unnecessary.

Stone said Manulife could seek the same information by waiting
for the legal proceedings to begin in a separate lawsuit filed by
Manulife against Harvest.

He added that the information Manulife sought might be used in
other legal proceedings outside of Hong Kong, which would violate
the application's regulations.

The application, termed Norwich Pharmacal, allows a company to
seek information from another company to find out who to name in
a lawsuit.

"At the outset of this application the court formed the strong
impression that Norwich Pharmacal relief was being pursued in
this case for use in foreign proceedings (Indonesia)," judge
Stone said. "Indonesia appears to represent the center of gravity
of this share dispute."

The Manulife case centers around the sale of 40 percent of PT
Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI) by the now bankrupt PT
Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera to the Canadian insurance company.

Manulife bought the shares after Dharmala was declared
bankrupt by the Jakarta Commercial Court last year.

The proceeds of the sale of the shares were to be used to
repay loans to Dharmala's creditors, including the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency.

But British Virgin Islands-based Roman Gold Assets claimed to
be the rightful owner of Dharmala's 40 percent stake in AJMI.

Roman claimed it purchased the shares from Harvest, which sold
the shares based on the power of attorney it was given in a
letter signed by Dharmala's former president in 1996.

Manulife charged Harvest was a paper company established to
allow fictitious transactions to take place.

But Harvest's legal representative, Mr. Sun, said Manulife had
no right to investigate Harvest's corporate structure.

"Manulife has no business with Harvest," Sun told the Post.

He said Manulife could not demand the disclosure of Harvest's
corporate structure unless the two parties were business
partners.

Sun added that Harvest was considering countersuing Manulife
for defamation. "We will sue them for HK$400 million."

Manulife Asia's general council in Hong Kong, Mitch New, said
Manulife would appeal the ruling.

"This is a very urgent matter, we prefer not to wait several
months for the legal proceedings to begin," New said.

He said that once legal proceedings in Manulife's lawsuit
against Harvest began, the court would demand both parties
disclose information about their corporate structures.

However, he said that it could take months before the courts
began to hear the lawsuit.

In Jakarta, Manulife managing director Chris Bendl said
people claiming to represent Roman had approached Manulife and
offered to stop the "legal harassment" for an under-the-table
payment of Rp 400 billion (about US$40.8 million).

Bendl said the offer was rejected because it was illegal.(bkm)