New York court of appeal calculate funds in Pertamina?s US accounts
Tuesday, September 9 2003 - 03:00 AM WIB
The appeal court?s move follows the U.S. Supreme Court decision which turned down Pertamina?s appeal in a case against KBC, Pertamina president director Baihaki Hakim told a parliamentary hearing Monday. Pertamina had appealed to the Supreme Court on June 2, 2003, Baihaki said.
The New York district court had earlier ordered BoNY to freeze US$261 million in Pertamina?s accounts upon KBC?s request.
The New York appeal court had ruled that 95 percent of Pertamina?s accounts at the two banks belonged to the Indonesian government, while Pertamina owned the remaining 5 percent.
Baihaki said in the parliamentary hearing that KBC had also filed the Karaha Bodas case to the Houston, Delaware, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore courts. Meanwhile, Pertamina had reported the case to the Central Jakarta district court.
Pertamina had tried hard to have the courts to annul the confirmation of the international arbitration decision which ordered it to pay a compensation of around $261 million to KBC.
Pertamina argued that KBC had received an insurance payment, and that the result of Pertamina?s audit had indicated that the geothermal power reserves found in Karaha Bodas geothermal project in West Java amounted to 30 megawatts (MW) only, compared with the 200 MW stated by KBC in its legal suit at a Swiss-based panel of arbitrators.
The Indonesian government suspended Kara Bodas project in early 1998 after severe economic crisis hit Indonesia. KBC had signed a cooperation agreement with Pertamina and state electricity firm PLN to develop the power project.
The project suspension prompted KBC, a Cayman Islands-registered firm owned by U.S. investors, to file a suit at the Swiss arbitration panel. (*)