Two years have passed since we reported on the family feud in Shinta Group, but problems remain. On December 4, 2018, the Commercial Court of the Central Jakarta District Court registered a bankruptcy lawsuit filed by senior advocates Rudhy Lontoh and Edward Lontoh (Rudhy’s son) against the Hermijanto siblings, who they used to represent when the examination of the feud was ongoing in the Tangerang District Court.
The bankruptcy lawsuit was registered as Case No. 40/Pdt.Sus-Pailit/2018/PN Niaga Jkt.Pst. The court did not disclose the content of the lawsuit and by the time we wrote this article, we were still trying to reach the plaintiffs for confirmation. The plaintiffs, i.e., Rudhy A. Lontoh and Edward N. Lontoh listed four defendants:
- Susila Dewi Hermijanto a.k.a Susi Hermijanto.
- Indra Hermijanto;
- Hendra Hermijanto; and
- Suryadi Hermijanto.
Let’s go back to 2016, when the family feud in Shinta Group was made known to the public. Toto Hermijanto (The Tjin Kim), the founder of Shinta Group, one of the largest garment and textile players in Indonesia, passed away on July 30, 2016 in Singapore. On Tuesday, October 11, 2016, Lontoh & Partners Law Office representing Indra Hermijanto published a warning regarding Toto’s inheritance in two national newspapers. Two days later, Juniver Girsang and Partners representing Mrs. Lek Chui Eng, Lynn Hermijanto, and Stacey Hermijanto issued a half-page announcement to rebuff the claims published by Lontoh & Partners. The two subpoenas mentioned Toto’s inheritance and the civil case No. 425/Pdt.G/2015/PN Tng which at the time was examined by the court.
We later found out that a year before Toto passed away, Hendra Hermijanto and Susila Dewi Hermijanto had filed a lawsuit against their father. The lawsuit was registered as Case No. 425/Pdt.G/2015/PN Tng in June 2015. In the said lawsuit, Hendra (The Eng Hok) and Susi (The Soei Tjen) who are Toto’s first and fourth child from his first wife, the late Ratna Wati Hermijanto (Tjoa Giok Nio) sued the following:
- Toto Hermijanto (The Tjin Kim);
- Mrs Lek Chui Eng (citizens of Singapore), Toto’s second wife, married in 1974;
- Stacey Hermijanto (citizens of Singapore), Toto’s second child from Lek Chui Eng;
- Lyinn Hermijanto (citizens of Singapore), Toto’s first child from Lek Chui Eng;
- Suryadi Hermijanto (The Eng Sin), Toto’s second child from Ratna Wati;
- Indra Hermijanto (The Eng Kian), Toto’s third child from Ratna Wati; and
- Eddy Suharry, Toto’s younger brother.
The plaintiffs claimed that Toto was an irresponsible father, and so he must be held accountable for his responsibilities in the maintenance of the inheritance, personal property, and possessions of the late Ratna Wati. The siblings sued their father for not recognizing their existence and giving away their mother’s inheritance, including the shares in the companies under Shinta Group—the companies are controlled by the second wife and her daughters. The siblings repeatedly mentioned that their mother pioneered the development of PT Shinta Indah Jaya and Sita Impex Pte Ltd, which became the forerunner of Shinta Group that today consists of:
- PT Sital Jaya Industri;
- PT Sulindafin;
- PT Sulindamills;
- PT Shinta Nylon;
- PT Shintatex;
- PT Sulinda Investama;
- PT Shinta Bank;
- PT Shinta Forex;
- PT Inkosindo;
- PT Korinesia; and etc
Ratna passed away when the siblings were underage and so the management of her inheritance fell into Toto’s hand. Three years later, Toto decided to marry Lek Eng Chui. The lawsuit at the time mentioned that Lek Chui Eng, whom Toto married on September 13, 1974 is listed as President Commissioner of PT Sulinda Mills and Commissioner of PT Shintatex, PT Sulinda Investama, PT Shinta Nylon. Lynn Hermijanto is the shareholder of Sita Impex Pte Ltd.
Stacey Hermijanto, on the other hand, is listed as shareholder of Sita Impex Pte Ltd (the core problem of the case) and the President Commissioner of PT Susilia Indah Synthetic Fibers Industries (PT Sulindafin) and PT Sulindamills, Director of PT Shinta Jaya Indah and Commissioner of Sita Impex Pte Ltd. At present time, Stacey is the president commissioner of PT Shinta Indah Jaya.
The complicated issue with Toto and Ratna’s non-existent wedding certificate and also the siblings birth certificate becomes the main problem in the lawsuit because later in their rebuttal files, Toto and the co-defendants (except Suryadi and Indra) stated that the plaintiffs did not have any legal relationship with them. In other words, Toto refused to recognize his children with Ratna. This is a sad thing to read because the name “Sulindafin” itself is an abbreviation of “Susila Indah Synthetic Fibers Industries”.
But the Panel of Judges of the Tangerang District Court in its legal considerations stated that in accordance with the provisions of Art. 2 paragraph (2) of Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage, Ratna Wati and Toto were couples living together and never bound by marriage, so that the children only have civil law relationship with Ratna Wati and do not have a civil law relationship with Toto. The Panel of Judges finally rejected the lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs. The verdict was read on April 19, 2016 and three months later Toto passed away. In the subpoenas published by Juniver Girsang & Partners Law Office, it was stated that the legal heirs of Toto’s inheritance are only Lek Chui Eng, Stacey, and Lynn Hermijanto, all of whom are citizens of Singapore.
After that, not much information was available on the dispute. In November 2016, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights decided to block the access to change the article of associations of five companies under Shinta Group, the companies are:
- PT Sulinda Investama;
- PT Sulindamills;
- PT Sulindafin;
- PT Sital Djaya Industries; and
- PT Shinta Indah Jaya.
After that, several lawsuits followed. Stacey filed a lawsuit against one Liu Ing Ming who at the time was the director of Sulindafin. The lawsuit was registered as Case No. 916/Pdt.G/2016/PN Tng, demanding the court to declare that Liu Ing Ming had committed tort for annulling the result of the Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders held on October 11, 2016. Stacey demanded compensation of over Rp700 million and demanded the court to confiscate Liu’s assets. In June 2017 the lawsuit was granted and there are no records of appeal from Liu Ing Ming.
In May 2017, we received an anonymous information on an ongoing hearing at the Singapore’s Supreme Court (Case No. HC/OS 1022/2016). The email mentioned a schedule to be held on May 18, 2017, but we could not get more information on the case. Listed as plaintiff was Lek Chui Eng (represented by Wongpartnership LLP). Listed as defendants were:
- Hendra Hermijanto (represented by Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP);
- Suryadi Hermijanto (represented by Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP);
- Indra Hermijanto (represented by Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP);
- Susila Dewi Hermijanto (represented by Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP);
- Lynn Hermijanto (represented by Drew & Napier LLC); and
- Stacey Hermijanto (represented by Drew & Napier LLC).
In the same month when Stacey’s lawsuit was granted, Hendra, Suryadi and Indra filed another lawsuit at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta). The lawsuit was registered as Case No. 123/G/2017/PTUN.JKT. It demanded the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to annul the changes of article of association of PT Sulinda Investama made in November 2016, or when the Ministry previously said they had blocked the access to changes the article of associations of the mentioned five companies. But apparently, the Ministry promulgated the changes in PT Sulinda Investama on March 2017. The trial went on until October 2017, when the plaintiffs decided to withdraw the lawsuit.
After that, we did not hear of anything related the feud, but now that Rudhy Lontoh has filed a bankruptcy lawsuit against the siblings he used to represent, and knowing that Stacey Hermijanto is managing the companies, perhaps this is almost the end for the Hermijanto siblings.
Rudhy Abraham Lontoh is one of the prominent lawyers in Indonesia. He and former partner Denny Kailimang founded the Lontoh and Kailimang Law firm. Edward Nicholas Lontoh is his son and with Edward he established Lontoh and Partners Law Office in 2006.
By Pradnya Paramitha
Copying, redistributing, and retransmitting this article is a violation of copyrights.
