Berkat Bumi offers installment payment

JAKARTA.The case of medium term notes (MTN) of PT Berkat Bumi Citra went to trial again on Monday (17/10). The subsidiary of PT Bumi Citra Permai Tbk (BCIP) offers refinancing and debt to asset swap schemes for settling default payment of the MTN.

Lawyer of Berkat Bumi Rhaditya Purta Perdana said that his client offers installment loans with collateral, as well as the transfer of investments to a number of assets owned by Berkat Bumi’s partners. Rhaditya claimed that most of Berkat Bumi’s MTN holders agreed the proposed schemes.

Raditya also claimed that Berkat Bumi operations remain normal, even though the financial institution is facing postponement of debt payment obligations (PKPU) filed by a MTN holder. “The office also runs as usual”, he said after a court session at Central Jakarta Commercial Court.

Radhitya said that the MTN holders are eligible to file request for PKPU. However, the lawsuit is inappropriate, on the grounds that Berkat Bumi still has good intention to return the customers funds.

However, the lawyer of Joanita Olivia, who is a Berkat Bumi’s MTN holder that filed PKPU, Ivan M.P Tampubolon said that the statement implies the inability of the financial institution to return the customers funds. Joanita filed a lawsuit against Berkat Bumi over the case of defaulted payment of Rp 1.15 billion funds.

Aside of Joanita, a holder of MTN from Solo, who does not want to be named, claimed to suffer Rp 1 billion losses. The case started in 2014 when a sales agent of Millenium Danatama Group in Solo offered the product of Berkat Bumi’s MTN.

The sales agent offered attractive package with a net 9.25% yields per year. However, the holder initially thought that the offered package is a type of deposit product. The problem occurred in August 2016 after the refunds stalled. “The company once offered me installment refunds settlement. However, I refused the scheme,” the holder told KONTAN.

Although the case has gone to court, Chairman of Investment Alert Task Force Tongam Lumban Tobing said that he never heard about Berkat Bumi’s MTN before. He added that the case is beyond the scope of work of Investment Alert Task Force.

Deputy Commissioner of Stock Exchange II Supervisor at Financial Service Authority (FSA) Noor Rachman said that FSA has started collecting information related to defaulted payment by Berkat Bumi of its MTN. (Translator: Muhammad Farid)