PALMOILMAGAZINE, PALU – Koperasi Mujur Jaya Molino is set to take its legal dispute with PT Agro Nusa Abadi (PT ANA), a subsidiary of PT Astra Agro Lestari, to the Poso Court, seeking justice in a civil case. The conflict stems from an agreement made five years ago between Koperasi Mujur Jaya Molino and PT ANA.
The agreement was supposed to be followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), but after three years, no MoU was signed, while the cooperative’s debt to PT ANA accumulated to Rp 90 billion.
Agus Batulapa, Chairman of Koperasi Mujur Jaya Molino, explained that despite repaying Rp 48 billion of the debt, the interest rate had risen to 12.75 percent per month, which was not part of the original agreement. He considered the interest rate increase unjustified, as it had not been agreed upon in the initial terms of cooperation.
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“In the previous trial at the Poso Court, an expert witness confirmed that PT ANA’s imposition of interest on the cooperative was improper,” Agus stated, as quoted by Palmoilmagazine.com from Rotari.id on Tuesday (17/9/2024).
He added that the cooperative is seeking the return of approximately Rp 39 billion, which represents the accumulated interest paid over the past four years.
He was optimist that the next trial would win the claim. “We believe we would win the case. We have to get the fairness from this issue because it significantly delivered impacts to our members,” he said. Until now Koperasi Mujur Jaya Molino has about 620 members with their plantations about 900 hectares.
The trial to read the sentence would be on 19 September in Poso Court. Koperasi Mujur Jaya Molino hoped the sentence would serve the justice as what they hoped for. (P2)
