Pertamina?s six more accounts may be frozen

American power firm Karaha Bodas Company (KBC) has requested the U.S. court to freeze another six bank accounts of Indonesia?s state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina in the U.S., Bisnis Indonesia and Investor Indonesia newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to Pertamina?s finance director Alfred Hadrianus Rohimone, the plan to freeze new six bank accounts is a part of the ongoing legal battle between KBC and Pertamina regarding power project.

Alfred mentioned that New York court had ordered the banks to return US$650 million from 12 bank accounts in the U.S. to the owner Pertamina. But Pertamina has not yet received the money so far.

?Until this day, we are trying to get back $650 million from 12 bank accounts and block the efforts to freeze six more accounts. All these accounts are belong the Indonesian government and not belong to Pertamina,? Alfred said on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives? Commission VIII in Jakarta.

He said Pertamina has been preparing a new strategy to end the dispute independently. However, he declined to give more details on the strategy.

He admitted that the U.S. government has not given positive response to the efforts of Indonesian government to reach an out of court settlement with KBC.

The Karaha Bodas Project was a joint venture power plant project between Pertamina and Karaha Bodas Co., a power company owned mainly by U.S. investors.

The project has been halted since 1997 in the wake of the financial crisis in Indonesia.

As a result, KBC took the Indonesian government -- represented by Pertamina -- to court.

So far, KBC?s dispute with Pertamina has been processed in several courts, including those in Houston, New York and Delaware in the USA, as well as in Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. (*)