Salim keeps BCA majority stake<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The country's top business tycoon Liem Sioe
\nLiong, also known as Sudono Salim, still retains a 70 percent
\nstake in Bank Central Asia (BCA), the country's largest private
\nbank.<\/p>\n
BCA president Abdullah Ali also said yesterday that Sigit
\nHajojudanto and Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, children of former
\npresident Soeharto, held a 30 percent stake at the bank.<\/p>\n
\"BCA is still 70 percent owned by the Salim Group, while the
\nremaining 30 percent shares are owned by former president
\nSoeharto's children,\" Abdullah said.<\/p>\n
He said the Salim Group's 70 percent share in BCA was owned by
\nSalim, one of Soeharto's closest cronies, and his sons Anthony
\nSalim and Andre Salim.<\/p>\n
He also denied rumors that Salim had recently died from
\nillness in the United States.<\/p>\n
He said Salim had been under medical treatment in Los Angeles
\nover the past three weeks, accompanied by family members, but
\nthat he would soon return to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"Anthoy Salim is scheduled to arrive back in Jakarta today
\n(yesterday),\" he was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
BCA became one of the main targets during Jakarta's May 14
\nriots when city residents looted and burned thousands of
\nbuildings to express anger toward the government following the
\nkilling of four student protesters by security forces.<\/p>\n
\"The rioters demolished 122 of our branch offices. We have yet
\nto calculate the total losses,\" Abdullah said, adding that the
\ndamages and looting of its automatic teller machines (ATMs)
\ntotaled at least Rp 3 billion (US$280,000).<\/p>\n
BCA depositors have been withdrawing their funds following the
\nrioting and departure of Soeharto from power.<\/p>\n
Abdullah called on BCA depositors to remain calm since their
\nmoney was secure under the guarantee of the central bank despite
\nthe riot.<\/p>\n
He said BCA had reduced the withdrawal limit for its ATMs due
\nto cash-flow problems in obtaining funds from the central bank in
\nthe wake of the riot.<\/p>\n
\"It takes a lot of time to obtain money from the central bank
\nnow. We reduced the maximum amount of money which customers can
\nwithdraw from our ATMs so that they all can equally obtain their
\nmoney,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Abdullah, however, declined to state the amount of liquidity
\ncredits the bank was forced to take from Bank Indonesia to keep
\nit afloat.<\/p>\n
Banking sources said if depositors continued to withdraw their
\nfunds from BCA much longer, the bank could be taken over by the
\nIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) because of the amount
\nof liquidity credits it was receiving from the central bank.<\/p>\n
The move would likely dilute Salim's stake in the bank.<\/p>\n
IBRA was set up by the government on Jan. 27 to closely
\nsupervise banks with liquidity problems in an effort to nurse
\nthem back to health.<\/p>\n
Forty banks were initially placed under IBRA's supervision,
\nbut the agency later discharged eight banks, including three
\nstate banks, one provincial development bank and four private
\nbanks. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/salim-keeps-bca-majority-stake-1447893297",
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