Two more bankruptcy claims filed in court
Two more bankruptcy claims filed in court
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Niaga and business partners
Hussein and Johan Subekti are the latest parties to make use of
the month-old Jakarta Commercial Court, already under intense
scrutiny after several controversial decisions.
Bank Niaga filed a claim on Sept. 23 against PT Bajamarga for
the latter's failure to repay its letter of credit facility of Rp
170.3 billion, according to court official Tri Widodo.
Hussein and Johan jointly filed suit against PT Modern Realty,
a publicly listed property company, on Sept. 24 to recover their
down payment of Rp 1 billion to the company.
Their cases are the seventh and eighth since the
implementation of the country's bankruptcy law late last month.
A court official said on Wednesday that Bank Niaga's cases was
first filed on Sept. 23 and the Hussein's case on Sept. 24.
"The first hearing for Bank Niaga is scheduled for Oct. 5
while Hussein's will be on Oct. 7," Tri said.
On Wednesday, the court approved the request by PT Ometraco
Multi Artha (OMA), a subsidiary of PT Ometraco Corporation, to
temporarily suspend the payment of its US$125 million loan owed
to a group of local and overseas banks coordinated by the
Singapore branch of American Express Bank.
Presiding Judge Haryono, who chaired Wednesday's hearing,
also appointed Victor Hutabarat to be the supervisory judge and
William E. Daniel of Warrens & Achryar as the administrator to
protect the debtor's assets during the temporary payment
suspension period.
The new law allows Indonesian debt-ridden companies to file
for a suspension of payment. Under this procedure, the court
issues a temporary payment suspension during which time the
debtor and creditors can work out a debt reorganization plan.
The troubled firms will be given 270 days (including the 45
day temporary suspension) to decide on a negotiation plan with
their creditors. Failure to reach a settlement will result in
bankruptcy proceedings.
The court on Wednesday granted a 0.5 percent commission fee to
the appointed administrator of Ometraco's assets. The fee is much
lower than the 3 percent ceiling ruled by the Ministry of Justice
last week.
The amount of commission fee for the administrators, who will
be in charge of the debtor's assets during the payment suspension
period, sparked controversy last week following the court
decision to demand golf course developer PT Karabha Digdaya pay a
5 percent commission fee on its total assets of Rp 1.3 trillion
to the administrator.
The total commission works out to be four times higher than
the company actually owed to the plaintiff. (aly)