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TEMASEK Holdings filed an appeal on Tuesday with an Indonesian court to contest a ruling by the country's business regulator that it breached local anti-monopoly laws, the state-linked investment firm said.
The appeal was filed with the district court of central Jakarta, Temasek said in a statement.
Indonesia's business regulator, the Commission for Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU), said last month that Temasek acted illegally in its investments related to the country's two largest cellular phone operators, Telkomsel and Indosat.
Temasek, which does not directly own stakes in the two Indonesian telcos, has said it is not guilty of breaking anti-monopoly laws and has vowed to fight the KPPU ruling.
'The case against Temasek is baseless and totally without merit,' said Myrna Thomas, Temasek's managing director of corporate affairs.
'We are filing an appeal to demonstrate that there is no basis for the KPPU decision and to ensure that Temasek's legal rights under the laws of Indonesia are respected at all times,' she said.
Temasek owns 56 per cent of Singapore Telecommunications which in turn owns 35 per cent of Indonesia's largest cellphone carrier, Telkomsel.
It also owns all of Singapore Technologies Telemedia (ST Telemedia) which, with Qatar Telecom, owns a 41.9 per cent stake in Indonesia's second-largest telecommunications company, Indosat.
Temasek was established in 1974 by the Singaporean government and it has an investment portfolio worth more than 100 billion US dollars (S$145 billion) with stakes in some of Asia's best-known companies including Singapore Airlines.-- AFP
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