Government, KPC protest Samarinda court?s verdict
Friday, December 20 2002 - 04:17 AM WIB
Anang Rizkani Noor, the Deputy Director for External Relations of PT Rio Tinto, the owner of KPC, said on Thursday that the company sent a letter to the Samarindo court on December 18 to protest the verdict.
"The decision does not have a legal base and the court does not have the authority to make such a verdict," he was quoted as sating by Bisnis Indonesia daily about the content of the letter sent to the court.
Meanwhile a source at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that the ministry had also made a similar protest against the Samarinda court?s decision. "The ministry has sent its legal staff to Samarinda to review the court?s decision," the source said.
The district court in Samarinda, East Kalimantan recently revoked the government?s agreement with KPC on the divestment of the coal producer?s 51 percent share in favor two local companies Perusda Melati Bhakti Satya and Perusda Pertambangan and Energy.
According to Judge A. Th, Pudjiwahono, the so called framework agreement which was signed by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and KPC?s management as a basic framework in the divestment of the coal producer? shares had no legal power.
The two companies said that the agreement was made to eliminate their chance to buy larger part of the shares that would be divested by KPC which operates massive coal mining areas in the province. KPC is equally owned by world mining giants Rio Tinto and BP. Under its contracts of works, the company?s shareholders are required to divest 51 percent of their shares to local investors
The local government has demanded the ministry to allow the two companies to take over all the 51 percent shares that would be divested by KPC but the request was rejected. The local government is instead allowed only to buy 31 percent of the shares and the other 20 percent are allocated for state owned companies.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta on Thursday that all related to KPC?s divestment program had been completed. "The clock (for KPC divestment) had been stopped. For those who get the opportunities to buy 31 percent or 20 percent of the shares can now negotiate the share prices," he said. (*)