Supreme Court turns down Amex bankruptcy appeal

Supreme Court turns down Amex bankruptcy appeal

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by
the Singapore office of the American Express Bank (Amex) to
declare the publicly listed firm PT Ometraco Corporation
bankrupt.

The Supreme Court said in its verdict on Tuesday that the
appeal had been rejected because the debt claimed by the
plaintiff had not yet matured.

"The loan Ometraco Corporation obtained from the plaintiff has
not matured yet," the court said in the ruling.

The Supreme Court said that Ometraco's debt would fall due on
Dec. 3 this year, but the plaintiff maintained in its claim filed
in September that the loan matured on Jan. 7 this year.

"The debt has not fallen due and the claim is therefore
considered premature," the court said.

Amex Singapore appealed to the Supreme Court early last month
after the Jakarta Commercial Court refused to declare the
publicly listed PT Ometraco Corporation bankrupt.

Presiding judge Joedijono said in a ruling early last month
that the insolvency claim brought by the bank could not be
accepted because its charges overlapped with a previous claim
made against the same company.

Amex brought the bankruptcy claim against Ometraco in early
September after the latter failed to repay a US$50 million loan.

But the court rejected the bankruptcy petition on the grounds
that Amex and a number of other creditors had already filed a
suit against PT Ometraco Multi Artha (OMA) for its failure to
repay a $125 million loan that was guaranteed by Ometraco, its
parent company.

The court said that Ometraco could not be tried on different
charges for the same case.

Amex was not satisfied with the ruling and decided to appeal
to the Supreme Court.

The Jakarta Commercial Court declared OMA insolvent earlier
this month after the latter failed to reach a debt accord with
its creditors.

The court turned down a request for a permanent suspension of
payment order submitted by OMA after creditors voiced their
objection to the proposal.

Prior to being declared insolvent, OMA had been given 45 days
to restructure its debts with creditors before resorting to a
request for a permanent suspension of payment order. (aly)