Workers win over company's assets

TANGERANG: Tangerang District Court ruled on Tuesday that 455 dismissed workers of Kingstone Indonesia had precedence over China Trust Bank, one of the bankrupt writing equipment manufacturer's creditors, as regards claims to the company's assets.

In August 2004, the court had allowed the workers to auction off the assets, valued at Rp 7.8 billion (US$876,404), to fund their severance pay after finding that the firm's owner, Whu Ming Chi, had fled home to Taiwan.

After seeing an advertisement announcing the auction in a newspaper, lawyers for China Trust Bank, which is owed Rp 18.45 billion by the company, objected to the auction, claiming that the disputed assets had been pledged to the bank as collateral for loans.

However, presiding judge Gatot Supramono rejected the bank's arguments, saying that Whu Ming Chi was the only party who could claim the assets or dispute their ownership.--JP