KKN practices<\/p>\n
I worked at the Monetary and Financial Research and
\nDevelopment Center of the Finance Ministry in 1990. The finance
\nminister at the time was J.B. Sumarlin. I knew of the following:<\/p>\n
Bambang Trihatmodjo, son of former president Soeharto, through
\nPT Bimantara applied to the finance minister to buy (take over)
\nshares from PT Intirub, a state-owned company in vehicle tire
\nproduction with factories in Palembang. The minister established
\na team of experts to assess the value of PT Intirub shares. The
\nteam's findings showed that the shares at a nominal price of Rp
\n1,000 when the company was established, were worth Rp 7,000,000 a
\npiece. The portfolio contained 1,000 shares.<\/p>\n
Some time later the finance minister sold the Intirub shares
\nto Bambang Trihatmodjo for Rp 1,000,000 only. The state suffered
\na loss of Rp 6 billion. It was said that the finance minister was
\ncoerced into selling the shares cheaply because there was an
\norder from former president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Afterwards Bambamg Trihatmodjo sold the Intirub shares to the
\nSalim Group. The price is not known, but it is certain that the
\nsale yielded a huge profit. It was a very easy money earner.<\/p>\n
Such practices conducted by the Soeharto family were not
\nlimited to the Intirub shares. They were also committed in
\nrelation to the shares of other state-owned companies and state
\nproperties in the form of land and buildings. If the Habibie
\ngovernment (the Attorney General) wishes to investigate such
\nmanipulations, it can easily do so because the archives are still
\nin the Finance Ministry. Other owners of conglomerate businesses
\nand cronies of former president Soeharto, were also involved in
\nsuch practices.<\/p>\n
Another matter worth probing into is the granting of credits
\nat low interest by government banks to the projects of the
\nSoeharto family. One example is the granting of credits with a
\nceiling of US$600 million by a consortium of banks to PT Timor
\nPutra Nasional of which the majority of shares belong to Tommy
\nSoeharto. Also Presidential Instruction No.2 of 1996 to PT TPN
\nsmelled of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), broke the
\nlaw, was detrimental to the state and enriched other people.<\/p>\n
Is the Habibie government capable of taking action? The people
\nwill see.<\/p>\n
SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kkn-practices-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }