Court ratifies withdrawal of civic suit against KPC
Thursday, August 1 2002 - 02:03 PM WIB
The East Kalimantan provincial administration submitted on July 22 an application to the South Jakarta court to drop its civic suit against East Kalimantan-based KPC. The province dropped the lawsuit on Monday, and this allowed KPC to formally offer 51 percent of its shares to the central government on Wednesday. Previously, the province had dropped its asset seizure lawsuit against the company hoping that such a move would be enough for it to begin offering its shares. But KPC shareholders said it was not.
East Kalimantan early this year filed a civic suit and an asset seizure suit in the South Jakarta district court against KPC accusing it of blocking the province from buying the entire 51 percent stake in the firm. The legal action caused a delay in KPC share divestment.
KPC?s lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said on Thursday the ratification of the civic lawsuit withdrawal meant that KPC would face no more stumbling block to sell its shares to any buyers.
Meanwhile, shortly after KPC share offer, the central government announced on Wednesday that 31 percent of KPC shares would be allocated to East Kalimantan and 20 percent would be for itself.
KPC is Indonesia?s most profitable coal mining firm operating a coalmine in Sangatta in East Kutai regency, East Kalimantan. World mining giants Rio Tinto and BP PLC equally own KPC which has capacity to produce more than 15 tons of coal annually. (leo)