Caltex opposes court plan to auction Rumbai's office

The president of PT Caltex Pasific Indonesia (CPI), Humayunbosha, strongly opposed a local court's plan to auction the oil giant's main office in Rumbai, some six kilometers from Pekanbaru, Media Indonesia reported on Friday.

He said that the confiscation is legally flaw because the office is owned by state oil and gas company Pertamina, is not part of Caltex's assets.

"It seems that the court did not understand how to differentiate which asset is owned by the state and which is not," he told reporters during his visit in Rumbai on Thursday.

A district court in Pekanbaru has threatened to auction Caltex's main office in Rumbai if the oil giant refuses to pay compensation amounting to Rp 8 billion (1US$= Rp 8,400) to PT Buchwar John Baspuri (BJP).

Caltex's main office in Rumbai was confiscated on Tuesday as the company's bank accounts, which had been seized by the court earlier, were not enough to cover the Rp 8 billion compensation.

Humayunbosha said on Thursday that the war was not yet over and he stressed that Caltex would seek a judiciary review on the court's decision to confiscate the oil giant's main office in the town.

"We opposed the court decision and have asked the Supreme Court to review it," he said. He, however, said that if the judiciary review request was turned down, Caltex had no choices but bow to the court decision and settle the compensation as required.

PT Buchwar brought Caltex to the court after the oil company unilaterally cut the payment for the cars leased to the oil giant, and it finally won the case. The court ordered Caltex to pay compensation of Rp 8 billion to PT Buchwar. The oil giant rejected the court's decision and appealed to both the Higher Court and Supreme Court. But all appeals were turned down. (*)