Govt urged to declare nation's top debtors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government should announce the names of the
\nnation's top debtors and investigate if they were involved in
\nimproprieties which have brought the country's banking industry
\nto its knees, a senior banking analyst said Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Nobody dared to name the debtors and investigate them in the
\npast, but the government should do that now,\" said Thomas
\nSuyatno, a former executive of the Federation of Indonesian
\nPrivate Banks (Perbanas).<\/p>\n
Bank Indonesia, the central bank, has said several times that
\nit had checked the quality of credits channeled to the country's
\n50 top debtors, but it never disclosed their names or the results
\nof its study.<\/p>\n
Thomas said in its current efforts to restructure the
\ncountry's banking industry, the government should also thoroughly
\ncheck the total credit channeled by the banks to them and the
\namount of the debts which ultimately became bad.<\/p>\n
If proof surfaced of improprieties, the government should take
\naction against the suspects in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n
\"Thus far, the government appears to be focusing on
\n(investigating) negligent bankers and letting the creditors who
\nalso took part in putting the country's banking industry into
\ntrouble walk free,\" Thomas was quoted by Antara news agency as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement agencies, including the Attorney General and
\nthe police, have questioned several bankers for allegedly
\nmisusing the liquidity support given by the central bank to their
\nrespective institutions and for violating the legal lending
\nlimit.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General last week started questioning several
\nbank officials and owners, including Mohamad \"Bob\" Hasan, the
\nlong-time golfing partner of former president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
The central bank is believed to have channeled Rp 140 trillion
\n(over US$12 billion) in liquidity support to commercial banks to
\nhelp them weather the monetary crisis which has been battering
\nthe nation for more than a year.<\/p>\n
The police have also summoned executives and owners of Bank
\nAndromeda, including Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, for
\nquestioning on charges of violating the legal lending limit. The
\nbank was among the 16 banks which were liquidated in November
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
A senior executive of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
\n(IBRA), Farid Harianto, said last month the major obstacle faced
\nby the agency in restructuring the country's ailing banks was the
\nhuge amount of nonperforming loans.<\/p>\n
The loans were estimated to reach Rp 376 trillion as of June
\nthis year, accounting for 48 percent of the total commercial
\nbanks' credit of Rp 626.5 trillion.<\/p>\n
IBRA, which was set up in January to restructure ailing banks
\nand recover the central bank's liquidity support, has established
\nthe asset management unit (AMU) to absorb nonperforming loans.<\/p>\n
But Farid, who heads the unit, said that recovering bad loans
\nwould not be easy because of conflicting interests in the
\ngovernment and legal impediments to the sale of troubled banks'
\nassets. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-urged-to-declare-nations-top-debtors-1447893297",
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