'IBRA can't get money back through corrupt courts'<\/p>\n
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A special team of legal experts has recommended that the
\nIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) take legal action
\nagainst former bank owners who have been uncooperative in
\nsettling their debts with the government.<\/p>\n
However, one huge question lingers on whether the agency could
\nactually win any legal battle against the wealthy ex-bankers
\ngiven the many losses suffered by IBRA in past court battles.<\/p>\n
Noted legal expert Prajoto expressed on Wednesday his
\npessimism over the prospect of the agency ending up on the
\nwinning side, citing the country's corrupt justice system.<\/p>\n
\"From the judicial point of view, (there is) no doubt IBRA
\nshould win. But practically speaking, due to the bribe mechanisms
\nthat still flourish in the courts ... the government will
\neventually have to face the bitter reality that there is almost
\nno chance to beat them,\" Prajoto told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said that going straight to trial would be a mistake, which
\nwould cause more losses to the state.<\/p>\n
He made the statement in response to a report in the Kompas
\ndaily on Wednesday that the special legal team assigned by the
\ngovernment to review the performance of some 33 ex-bank owners in
\nrepaying debts to the government had finished reviewing nine of
\nthe bankers, with a result suggesting that all of them were
\nconsidered uncooperative at best.<\/p>\n
The 33 former bank owners have been charged with misusing most
\nof the Rp 144 trillion in state-funded liquidity loans during the
\ncrisis in 1997-1998.<\/p>\n
To avoid criminal charges, they agreed to sign an out-of-court
\nsettlement agreement with the government in 1998. Most of the
\nagreements expire this year, and most of the debtors have not
\neven begun their debt repayments.<\/p>\n
The government must seek ways to recover the loans.<\/p>\n
An IBRA proposal to give the indebted bankers another 10 years
\nto repay the debts was scrapped following strong public criticism
\nand high demands to bring the bankers to court and seize their
\nassets.<\/p>\n
Under pressure from the public and the International Monetary
\nFund, the government then assigned a special legal team to filter
\nout the most uncooperative debtors and make recommendations on
\nwhat legal action should be taken.<\/p>\n
The uncooperative debtors will be given three months to settle
\ntheir obligations before legal action is taken, which may include
\njail time and asset seizures.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, was also of the same
\nopinion as Prajoto, saying that if there was no revision on the
\nso-called shareholders' debt settlement agreements, going to
\ntrial would be a waste of time because the agency would lose
\nanyway.<\/p>\n
\"Revising those agreements should be the government's
\npriority. It's better to take one step back first only to move
\nahead later, rather than experiencing a total loss,\" Hotman said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Luhut Pangaribuan, a member of the special legal
\nteam, said that the team had good reasons to say that IBRA could
\nwin the court battle against the ex-bank owners.<\/p>\n
\"The fact that IBRA's litigation record has been poor so far
\nshould not stand in the way of bringing those debtors to
\njustice,\" Luhut added optimistically.<\/p>\n
The nine ex-bank owners are actually considered relatively
\nsmall debtors when compared to other indebted bank owners like
\nAnthony Salim (former owner of Bank Central Asia) and Syamsul
\nNursalim (of the now defunct Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia) who
\nowe the state billions of dollars.<\/p>\n
The legal team has yet to complete its review on that group of
\nbank owners who owe total of Rp 88 trillion to the government.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ibra-cant-get-money-back-through-corrupt-courts-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}