Ex-bankers given deadline to surrender more assets<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government has given the country's prominent
\nformer bank owners until Wednesday to agree to surrender more
\nassets and provide personal guarantees to the Indonesian Bank
\nRestructuring Agency (IBRA) to ensure full settlement of their
\nobligations.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli said late on
\nFriday that the ex-bank owners would risk legal sanctions if they
\nfailed to meet the government's demand.<\/p>\n
\"The deadline is until Wednesday at seven in the evening... If
\nthis is not met, the Attorney General has confirmed that he would
\ntake necessary action,\" Rizal told a press conference following a
\nmeeting of the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC).<\/p>\n
The FSPC is a group of several senior economics ministers,the
\nAttorney General and IBRA. The committee gives the final approval
\non major deals handled by IBRA.<\/p>\n
The former bank owners, who are also the country's top
\nbusiness tycoons, owe hundreds of trillions of rupiah to the
\ngovernment because their banks had received massive liquidity
\nsupport from the government via the central bank. They had also
\nviolated the legal lending limit ruling by channeling most of
\ntheir money to affiliated businesses.<\/p>\n
The business tycoons signed the Master of Settlement and
\nAcquisition Agreement (MSAA) with IBRA in 1999, in which they
\npledged their assets to the agency to repay their debts.<\/p>\n
But it turned out the assets surrendered were not sufficient
\nto cover their obligations.<\/p>\n
The former bank owners include the Salim Group, Sjamsul
\nNursalim, Bob Hasan and Sudwikatmono.<\/p>\n
The Salim Group, for instance, owed more than Rp 53 trillion
\nto the government but the assets it pledged are only worth around
\nRp 20 trillion.<\/p>\n
\"We have given them one month ... We will not give them more
\ntime because it's useless. They only use it to lobby government
\nofficials or legislators to avoid (surrendering more assets),\"
\nRizal said.<\/p>\n
\"They think there are government officials who can bought, but
\nthe current (economic) team won't accept bribe,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Rizal said the Attorney General's office had conducted an
\ninvestigation and found out that the former bank owners still had
\nassets, both domestic and overseas.<\/p>\n
\"It turns out that they're not as poor as they had claimed,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Rizal said if they do not accede to the government's demand,
\nthey would be categorized as uncooperative debtors and would risk
\nlegal sanctions.<\/p>\n
\"We define the uncooperative debtors as those who only cause
\nthe state further losses,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rizal also said the former bank owners would be allowed to
\nrepurchase their assets from IBRA only after they have fulfilled
\ntheir obligations to the government.<\/p>\n
\"They are welcome to buy back the assets if they have met
\ntheir obligations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said there were strong indications that the former bank
\nowners were trying to repurchase their assets via third parties.<\/p>\n
\"If in the future they are proven to have repurchased their
\nassets, IBRA will take them back,\" he said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The government was disappointed in learning that the Salim
\ngroup had repurchased its shares in the Singapore-listed QAF Pte.
\nLtd., a holding company operating various businesses including
\nbread-making, supermarkets and trading.<\/p>\n
IBRA had sold all of its 25 percent share in QAF earlier this
\nweek through BNP Paribas Peregrine as the placement agency.
\nHowever the shares were bought by an investment firm owned by the
\nSalim Group and Didi Dawis, the president of QAF.<\/p>\n
The QAF shares were among the assets pledged by the Salim
\nGroup.<\/p>\n
Rizal had said earlier that the repurchasing of QAF shares by
\nSalim was \"unethical\" because the group had not fulfilled their
\nobligations to the government.<\/p>\n
Rizal said Salim should have prioritized its debt to the
\ngovernment and not the repurchasing of their assets.<\/p>\n
Separately, IBRA senior official Dasa Sutantio said the agency
\nhad warned BNP Paribas not sell the QAF shares to the Salim
\nGroup.<\/p>\n
But BNP Paribas argued that out of the 21 fund managers
\ninvited, one sold the QAF shares back to the Salim Group's
\naffiliate, Dasa said. (rei)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-bankers-given-deadline-to-surrender-more-assets-1447893297",
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