Supreme Court to annuls Hutama Karya verdict
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court is set to save state-owned construction firm PT Hutama Karya from liquidation by annulling on Friday its earlier verdict that declared the company bankrupt.
Hutama Karya corporate secretary Widodo Alibas said here on Sunday he had known the Supreme Court's decision but could not disclose its details because the verdict would not be released by the Court until Monday.
"I am obviously happy about the Supreme Court's decision. I hope this new development will correct the image of Hutama Karya in the eyes of our foreign clients and partners," Widodo told The Jakarta Post.
Minister of Public Works Rachmadi Bambang Sumadhijo said he also had been informed on the Supreme Court's decision on Hutama Karya.
"Yes, I have heard about the Supreme Court's decision accepting Hutama Karya's petition for a judicial review. I'm happy about it," he said.
Hutama Karya, one of the country's major construction firms, is under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works.
The company filed a judicial review late last month against a bankruptcy ruling issued by the Supreme Court in February.
PT Jaya Readymix and PT Primacoat Lestary brought a bankruptcy claim against the Hutama Karya last December for the state company's inability to repay Rp 2.3 billion (US$265,000) in construction fees.
Their bankruptcy petition against Hutama Karya was rejected by the Jakarta Commercial Court on the grounds that the state firm did not have any direct debt obligations to the two private construction firms.
The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
Widodo said Hutama Karya won the Supreme Court's review decision after the company settled its debt with Primacoat Lestary, totaling Rp 283.3 million, leaving Jaya Readymix the only unpaid creditor.
According to the 1998 bankruptcy law, for a company to be declared bankrupt, the bankruptcy petition must be filed by at least two creditors and the company must be proven to have failed to service both the principal and interest of its debt to one of the creditors.
A source familiar with the legal procedures at the Supreme Court said the Court would overrule earlier bankruptcy decisions only if new evidence was presented or if it found substantial misapplication of the bankruptcy law in the case.
When reviewing bankruptcy decisions, the Court's chairman appoints a different group of Supreme Court judges to sit on the review panel, the source said.
"It is most likely that Hutama Karya, in filing a judicial review to the Supreme Court, presented new evidence in the form of proof of payment to Primacoat," the source told the Post.
In another bankruptcy case, the Supreme Court would most likely also overrule its earlier decision taken in February and declare publicly listed agriculture food producer PT Dharmala Agrifood bankrupt.
The new decision would favor the International Finance Corporation-- a subsidiary of the World Bank--ING Indonesia Bank and publicly listed Bank Niaga, which filed a bankruptcy petition against Dharmala over its failure to repay $53.8 million in loans from the plaintiffs.
A senior administration official at the Supreme Court said the Court had issued review verdicts on four out of six bankruptcy cases which were filed for judicial reviews.
"We will officially send the judicial review verdicts on the four cases to the Jakarta Commercial Court on Monday," he told the Post.
The four cases include those of Dharmala and Hutama Karya as well as a bankruptcy petition filed by state Bank Expor Impor Indonesia against PT Pacific International Finance. (02)