Minister sued over contract revocation

Minister sued over contract revocation

JAKARTA (JP): A businessman has filed a lawsuit against
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana and several of his
staff over the cancellation of a contract to develop and manage
an office center on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta.

PT Patrabuild Indonesia president Syarief Tando said the first
hearing of his lawsuit would take place today at the Central
Jakarta Courthouse.

Aside from the minister, Tando also sued the general
secretariat of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the ministry's
directorate general of oil and gas, a consortium called PT Bhakti
Patra Nusantara and the welfare foundation owned by the state-
owned oil and gas company Pertamina.

Tando said all the parties had caused Patrabuild to lose its
US$100 million contract to build and operate the Migas Center on
a 127,708 square meter plot on Jl. Thamrin.

The center was designed to consist of several high rise towers
to be occupied by mine and oil companies and the ministry's
director general of oil and gas.

He said under the contract, which was signed by him and the
then director general of oil and gas Suyitno Patmosukismo in
1993, Patrabuild was given the right to operate the center for 30
years before transferring it to the ministry.

But the ministry revoked the contract in 1995 and transferred
it to PT Bhakti Patra Nusantara which is affiliated with
Pertamina.

Tando said the contract was revoked after development was
underway and he had tried to negotiate a compensation package for
his losses.

But, he said the negotiations did not bear fruit.

"That's why I finally decided to seek a legal solution in
court," he said, adding the contract's revocation violated
Indonesian law and his legal rights.

Tando's team of lawyers include Lelyana Santosa and Todung
Mulya Lubis. (jsk)