Ketua Panja Illegal Logging DPR Kembalikan Bingkisan dari Raja Garuda Mas (RGM)

[The Indonesia Watch]. Meski KPK telah melarang pejabat negara menerima bingkisan Lebaran, ternyata masih ada perusahaan yang nekat memberikan parcel. Salah satunya PT RGM Indonesia. Parcel itu diterima Aulia Rahman, Ketua Panja Illegal Logging yang juga anggota FPG DPR. Namun, karena takut dengan pasal gatifikasi, Aulia berencana mengembalikan bingkisan berukuran 25 X 25 cm itu.

“Saya ini pejabat negara, karena ada UU Gratifikasi dan seruan lasangan dari Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK), saya akan mengembalikan ini,” kata Aulia dalam jumpa pers di Gedung DPR Senayan, Jakarta, Jumat (28/9).

Aulia juga mengaku tidak kenal mengenal pimpinan RGM. “Saya tidak kenal dengan para pejabatnya, dan pekerjaan saya tidak ada hubungannya dengan perusahaan itu. Memang saya menjadi Ketua Panja Illegal Logging, dan saya pernah mengeluarkan pernyataan kerusakan hutan tanggung jawab siapa,” beber Aulia.

Bingkisan yang dibungkus dengan kertas coklat itu diberikan menjelang buka puasa Kamis, 27 September. Bingkisan itu dikirimkan langsung ke rumahnya di kawasan Cikini. “Saya tidak berhak membuka di sini, biar nanti saya serahkan ke KPK biar dibuka, kalau mau.” Kata Aulia.

Kepada wartawan, Aulia memperlihatkan amplop bertuliskan “Kepada Yth, Bapak Aulia Rahman SH di tempat”. Di sudut lain tertulis “Dari PT RGM Indonesia di Jalam MH Thamrin, No 31, Jakarta 10230”. “Namanya saja sudah salah, padahal saya sudah doctor,” cetus Aulia. (Sumber : Detik Dotcom)

Sukanto loses legal battle over major coal mine

[The Global Center]. Tycoon Sukanto Tanoto lost his legal battle in the Singapore High Court on Friday against businessman Edwin Soeryadjaya over control of a multibillion dollar coal mine in South Kalimantan. But he did receive one very small consolation; the court ordered Deutsche Bank to pay Sukanto's company S$1,000 for its failure to carry out its pledge to its borrower.

Sukanto, as a borrower to the bank, insisted the bank failed to carry out its obligation as the money lender to get his approval before the bank acted to settle its debt. However, the war between the two business tycoons is probably still far from over. Sukanto can appeal the c)ourt decision or pursue another lawsuit in Indonesia.

Justice Kan Ting Chiu issued his 65-page verdict during a brief court session Friday morning, handing over copies of the verdict to lawyers representing the two sides. Sukanto was represented by Steven Chong, Edwin by Kenneth Tan. The decision will be available on the court's website within five days.

Singapore-registered Beckkett Pte Ltd, indirectly owned by Sukanto, in February last year took to court Deutsche Bank and the Jakarta-based PT Dianlia Setyamukti (DSM), which is indirectly owned by Edwin. Beckkett was seeking to regain its 40 percent share in coal miners PT Adaro Indonesia and PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal (IBT).

Beckkett held the shares through its subsidiary PT Swabara Mining and Energy (SME).
In October 1997, Deutsche Bank agreed to provide a US$100 million loan to Sukanto, through one of his companies, Asminco. The bank received the 40 percent share in Adaro as collateral. In February 2002, the bank sold the Adaro stake to Edwin's side in a private deal following the failure of Asminco to repay its debt.

After selling other collateral the bank was only able to retrieve $46 million. However, Sukanto demanded the return of his shares, claiming the transaction between Edwin and the bank was illegal.

Sukanto, the owner of the Singapore-based Raja Garuda Mas International (RGMI), a widely diversified business group, claims Edwin's company and the German bank conspired against him. The Singapore court disagreed. "Beckkett's claim for conspiracy against Deutsche Bank and DSM is dismissed," Justice Kan Ting Chiu said in his verdict.

On the bank, the judge said "as vendor-pledge owes a primary duty to the pledgors (Beckkett), and it also owes a duty to any guarantor who may be liable for the shortfall between the outstanding loan and the proceeds from the sale of the shares".

"Beckkett has made out a case that Deutsche Bank failed to discharge its duties as pledgee, when it sold the SME shares, but has failed to show that Deutsche Bank had in fact sold those shares at undervalue, so I award to Beckkett nominal damages of $1,000," says the judge in his verdict.

Beckkett commented in written statement: "This result affirms the claims we have been making all along: that Deutsche Bank did not undertake the sale of our shares in a proper manner." Mike West, a Deutsche Bank spokesman in Hong Kong, said in a statement Friday the judgment fully vindicated Deutsche Bank's legal position and actions in recovering a long overdue debt.
"In confirming the lender's rights, it will be welcomed by the broader banking community," he said in the statement.

Edwin's side welcomed the decision. "The verdict in favor of PT Dianlia Setyamukti vindicates the position we have maintained all along that the company's purchase of shares in PT Adaro Indonesia complied with all prevailing Indonesian laws, was legally binding, and was a bona fide and lawful purchase of the shares in good faith," the company said in a written statement.

According to Adaro's website last year, the company's concession contains four deposits that contain approximately three billion tons of open cut coal, which is characterized by extremely thick seams of up to 50 meters with relatively low overburden. In 2005, the company produced 28 million tons of coal.

When asked whether Beckkett would appeal the verdict to the Singapore Supreme Court, a company spokesman said: "For the time being it is still too premature to make the decision, but we also do not rule out such an option." The company is also still considering filing a lawsuit in Indonesia (Source : The Jakarta Post)