Roche protests court's sequestration ruling
Roche protests court's sequestration ruling
JAKARTA (JP): Drug company PT Roche Indonesia, an affiliate of
Swiss firm Roche, protested on Wednesday the South Jakarta
District Court's decision to sequester its assets at the request
of drug distributor PT Perusahaan Dagang Tempo in a distribution
rights dispute.
Roche's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the sequestration
ruling was illegitimate as the district court did not have the
right to examine the dispute, given the fact that both parties
had agreed to settle any dispute through arbitration.
"The district court is incompetent to try a dispute of parties
bound in an arbitration agreement," Lubis said in a press
conference, quoting Law No. 30/1999 on arbitration and
alternative dispute settlement.
Lubis said the decision could kill whatever litte confidence
foreign investors still had in Indonesia, which is anxiously
seeking to woo back investors to the country.
The court decision, Lubis added, indicated "how uncertain and
weak is our legal system, a factor which has forced most foreign
investors to remain on the sideline despite the election of a
legitimate government in Indonesia."
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 reportedly did not "give reasons" for annulling the
contract, which, Roche said, was something allowed for in the
contract.
Lubis asserted that the court should have turned down the
lawsuit right from the outset because Roche and Tempo clearly
stipulated in their distribution agreement that any dispute
arising among them which cannot not be settled amicably shall be
finally settled by arbitration to be conducted in English
language to be held in Jakarta under the Rules of Arbitration of
the Indonesian National Board of Arbitration (BANI).
Tempo asked the court to sequester Roche's assets, 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.
Lubis said the court issued the so-called conservatoir beslag
(sequestration ruling) on Oct. 26 without giving the chance for
his client to defend itself in the first hearing of the case on
Nov. 4.
"This is contrary to the principle of procedural law, namely
audi ad alteram partem (listen to the other party)," Lubis said.
"The district court is obligated to reject and shall not
interfere in any dispute settlement which has been determined
through arbitration, except for certain matters determined by the
law," Lubis quoted the arbitration law of 1999.
Swiss ambassador Gerard Fonjallaz who accompanied Lubis at the
news conference said he had sent a letter to President
Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday regarding the issue. (01/jsk)
JAKARTA (JP): Drug company PT Roche Indonesia, an affiliate of
Swiss firm Roche, protested on Wednesday the South Jakarta
District Court's decision to sequester its assets at the request
of drug distributor PT Perusahaan Dagang Tempo in a distribution
rights dispute.
Roche's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the sequestration
ruling was illegitimate as the district court did not have the
right to examine the dispute, given the fact that both parties
had agreed to settle any dispute through arbitration.
"The district court is incompetent to try a dispute of parties
bound in an arbitration agreement," Lubis said in a press
conference, quoting Law No. 30/1999 on arbitration and
alternative dispute settlement.
Lubis said the decision could kill whatever litte confidence
foreign investors still had in Indonesia, which is anxiously
seeking to woo back investors to the country.
The court decision, Lubis added, indicated "how uncertain and
weak is our legal system, a factor which has forced most foreign
investors to remain on the sideline despite the election of a
legitimate government in Indonesia."
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 reportedly did not "give reasons" for annulling the
contract, which, Roche said, was something allowed for in the
contract.
Lubis asserted that the court should have turned down the
lawsuit right from the outset because Roche and Tempo clearly
stipulated in their distribution agreement that any dispute
arising among them which cannot not be settled amicably shall be
finally settled by arbitration to be conducted in English
language to be held in Jakarta under the Rules of Arbitration of
the Indonesian National Board of Arbitration (BANI).
Tempo asked the court to sequester Roche's assets, 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.
Lubis said the court issued the so-called conservatoir beslag
(sequestration ruling) on Oct. 26 without giving the chance for
his client to defend itself in the first hearing of the case on
Nov. 4.
"This is contrary to the principle of procedural law, namely
audi ad alteram partem (listen to the other party)," Lubis said.
"The district court is obligated to reject and shall not
interfere in any dispute settlement which has been determined
through arbitration, except for certain matters determined by the
law," Lubis quoted the arbitration law of 1999.
Swiss ambassador Gerard Fonjallaz who accompanied Lubis at the
news conference said he had sent a letter to President
Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday regarding the issue. (01/jsk)