Paiton lawyer lambasted for making a ?false? statement in court PLN customers

Head of the labor union of the state-owned electricity company PLN Hasrin Hutabarat lambasted the lawyer of Paiton Energy Company Frans Winarta for making a ?false? statement during a court hearing in Jakarta Monday.

Frans told the court that if the power purchase contract between PLN and Paiton was terminated, there would be a blackout in the Java-Bali region. The statement was immediately booed by PLN employees who attended the court hearing.

?The statement is misleading, and contains a lie with a tendency to create fear among PLN customers. He should not make such a statement particularly as he is not supported with sufficient data. What does he (Frans) know about the Java-Bali electricity condition,? Hasrin latter told the press.

?As an insider, we are fully familiar with the condition of PLN?s electricity supply both in the Java-Bali system and outside. That?s why we are surprised when the Paiton lawyer mentioned about the blackout. The statement is fully a lie, there?s no truth in it,? Hasrin added.

PLN signed an agreement with Paiton to purchase the latter?s power output. But after the country was hit by the 1997 financial crisis which sent the rupiah tumbling against the U.S. dollar, PLN could not follow the contract. There has also been allegation that the power purchase contract had been marked during the authoritarian rule of Soeharto. PLN has been trying to renegotiate the contract.

PLN labor union has filed a legal suit demanding the court to annul the contract.

Frans made the controversial statement after PLN lawyer asked the court to temporarily freeze the PLN-Paiton contract.(Amoros)