BTN boss removed over Bapindo case<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad has replaced
\nSjahrizal, the president of the state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara
\n(BTN) and former president of Bank Pembangunan Indonesia, in
\nconnection with the credit scandal at Bapindo.<\/p>\n
F. Bambang Kuntjoro, a director at Bapindo, was also removed
\non Saturday.<\/p>\n
Agus Haryanto, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, said
\nthe replacement of the two executives was made to facilitate
\ninvestigations by the Attorney General's Office on the fraud
\ninvolving the Golden Key Group.<\/p>\n
He said that the finance minister had appointed Widigdo
\nSukarman, the president of the state-owned Bank Papan Sejahtera,
\nas BTN's acting president.<\/p>\n
Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono told newsmen Saturday that
\nPresident Soeharto fully supported the finance minister's
\ndecision to replace Sjahrizal as BTN president.<\/p>\n
"The finance minister sent a letter Thursday to the President
\nabout Sjahrizal's replacement. The President's letter of approval
\nwas delivered on Friday morning," Moerdiono told newsmen
\nfollowing a meeting with Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Sjahrizal was assigned as Bapindo's president in August of
\n1992 to replace Subekti Ismaun, who is now under the custody of
\nthe Attorney General's Office, just before he was appointed as
\nBTN's president early this year. The minister swapped Sjahrizal's
\nposition with that of Towil Heryoto, who is also in the custody
\nof the Attorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
Towil, who is also a former director for credits at Bapindo,
\nwas detained by the Attorney General's Office a day after his
\nreplacement as Bapindo's president in the middle of last month.<\/p>\n
Agus did not mention possible charges which could be imposed
\non both Sjahrizal and Bambang in the alleged credit scam.<\/p>\n
Eddy Tanzil, the chairman of the Golden Key Group who was the
\ncredit recipient, and Maman Suparman the former deputy chief of
\nBapindo's Jakarta branch office, are also being detained by the
\nAttorney General's Office for their alleged involvement in the
\ncredit scam.<\/p>\n
Officials<\/p>\n
The credit fraud involves top government officials, former
\nCoordinating Minister of Political Affairs and Security Sudomo
\nand former finance minister J.B. Sumarlin.<\/p>\n
Sudomo is now chairman of the Supreme Advisory Agency and
\nSumarlin is now the chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency.<\/p>\n
The two senior officials were widely reported to have
\ninfluenced Bapindo's executives in approving the credit facility
\nto the Golden Key group.<\/p>\n
Sjahrizal tendered his resignation last Friday according to
\ninformed sources. They also said that his information related to
\nthe credit scam would be of great use to the Attorney General's
\nOffice in outlining the possible involvement of the government's
\nsenior officials.<\/p>\n
Sjahrizal was reported to have opposed the $430 million credit
\nwhich was extended to the Golden Key Group when he was a director
\nin Bapindo.<\/p>\n
When he was at the bank's helm, Sjahrizal extended the
\nmaturity period of bank acceptances, the documentary credits
\nissued by Bapindo in financing the credit facility. Extending the
\nbank acceptances' maturity was essential as Bapindo did not have
\nenough money to repay its loans, they said.<\/p>\n
Bapindo began issuing a usance letter of credits (L\/C) to the
\nGolden Key Group in December 1989 for the procurement of
\nmachinery and plant equipment for the business group's four
\nchemical projects in Serang, West Java. Later, the status of the
\ndocumentary credit facility was changed into a red clause L\/C.
\nThis allowed its beneficiary, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of the
\nbusiness group, to cash the funds even before the shipment of the
\nmachinery and equipment.<\/p>\n
The shipment of the business group's imports was never made
\nwhile the credit facility, which had grown to over US$430 million
\nsince its first approval in December 1989, was left unpaid.<\/p>\n
The total extent of the loan fraud, with interest, has caused
\na loss to Bapindo to the tune of Rp 1.3 trillion ($620 million).<\/p>\n
Serious<\/p>\n
In another development Yahya Nasution, the vice chairman of
\nCommission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR), warned
\nSaturday that the government should pay serious attention to the
\nhandling of the credit fraud in Bapindo.<\/p>\n
Yahya said that his commission, which is in charge of
\nfinancial and trade affairs, has demanded that the government
\nconduct a fair investigation all officials involved in Bapindo's
\ncredit fraud. He has also pushed the government to carry out
\ninvestigations of possible fraud taking place in other state
\nbanks.<\/p>\n
According to the government, bad debts recorded by the
\ncountry's banking industry (state and private banks) comprised
\nnearly 3.5 percent of all outstanding loans last November.
\nBanking analysts estimate that this number could now be as high
\nas 10 percent of outstanding loans, with the total sum of non-
\nperforming loans (bad debts and doubtful loans) reaching over
\n14.97 trillion (US$7.12 billion.) Experts also estimate that the
\npercentage of non-performing loans in state-owned financial
\ninstitutions may be as high as 21.5 percent.<\/p>\n
Yahya, a representative of the Indonesian Democratic Party
\n(PDI), said that Commission VII is determined to continue
\ninvestigating the non-performing loans in state banks.<\/p>\n
It was Commission VII that first revealed Golden Key's credit
\nfraud nearly two months ago.<\/p>\n
"The government should make a close examination of all debt
\nproblems in state banks," Yahya said. He added that in the
\nupcoming hearings his commission would look into what action, if
\nany, had been taken by the government in settling the debt
\nproblems.(hen)<\/p>",
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