Legal counsel team needs extra time to identify errant debtors<\/p>\n
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The team of legal experts set up by the government to identify
\nwhich ex-bank owners have been uncooperative in settling around
\nUS$10 billion of debts to the state, has asked for extra time, up
\nuntil May 30, to complete its task.<\/p>\n
The team, which was originally given one month to do the job,
\nmissed the Thursday deadline due to \"technical problems.\"<\/p>\n
It made the request for additional time at a meeting of the
\nFinancial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC) late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The FSPC groups senior economic ministers overseeing major
\nbank and corporate debt restructuring programs.<\/p>\n
Team member Todung Mulya Lubis said that the Cabinet would
\ndecide whether to approve the request or not.<\/p>\n
He declined to disclose the progress achieved in the team's
\nwork, saying he had no right to leak any information when the
\nreview was still underway.<\/p>\n
Some 33 former bank owners owe huge debts to the state, mostly
\nresulting from the multibillion dollar emergency liquidity loans
\ninjected by the government into their banks in the wake of the
\n1997 financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Recovering these loans is crucial to helping reduce the
\nstrains on the state budget.<\/p>\n
International lenders like the International Monetary Fund are
\nalso keen on see a credible plan being adopted to force the
\nerrant debtors to repay what they owe.<\/p>\n
The ex-bank owners agreed in 1998 to settle their debts via a
\ncombination of asset transfers and cash payments. But with the
\nagreement expiring this year, progress as regards debt settlement
\nhas been painfully slow.<\/p>\n
The government initially planned to extend the repayment
\nperiod, but was widely criticized by the public and politicians
\nwho demanded immediate legal action against the wayward debtors.<\/p>\n
Last month, the government set up the legal counsel team as
\npart of a new mechanism for settling the obligations of the
\nformer bank owners.<\/p>\n
Under the plan, uncooperative debtors would be given a three-
\nmonth period to settle their debts or risk legal sanctions
\nranging from travel bans to asset sequestration and jail terms.<\/p>\n
There have been rumors that the legal counsel team was unable
\nto complete its task on time because the Indonesian Bank
\nRestructuring Agency (IBRA) had been uncooperative in furnishing
\nthe necessary documents to the legal experts.<\/p>\n
IBRA Chairman I Putu Gede Ary Suta was the one who first
\nproposed the extension of the repayment period.<\/p>\n
But FSPC secretary Safruddin Temenggung said the rumors were
\ngroundless, claiming that the delay in the team's work was
\nprimarily due to the huge volume of paperwork involved.<\/p>\n
He also said that there was no pressure being applied by the
\nex-bank owners, who were once very rich and influential people in
\nthis country.<\/p>\n
\"This (the delay) has nothing to do with the debtors. The team
\nhasn't even met them yet.<\/p>\n
\"It's simply because of technical matters ... because there is
\nsuch a volume of data on all 33 debtors. And I think the request
\nis reasonable,\" Safruddin told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
While data collection had almost been completed, Syafruddin
\nsaid the additional time would be needed for analysis and
\ndecisionmaking.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/legal-counsel-team-needs-extra-time-to-identify-errant-debtors-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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