19th Games consortium seeks debt clearance
19th Games consortium seeks debt clearance
JAKARTA (JP): Chances appear slight the 19th Southeast Asian
Games (SEA Games) underwriting consortium will sway management of
the Gelora Senayan sports complex to waive its Rp 1 billion
(US$100,000) in debt arrears.
Gelora Senayan director Yasidi Hambali said yesterday he would
reject the request because granting it would only increase the
financial burdens on the sports complex's management.
The debt comprises operational expenses during the Games, held
in October last year, which were initially covered by the sports
complex's management.
"We have spent the money for electricity and maintenance
expenses plus workers' salaries for them, so it's normal if we
ask them (the consortium) for reimbursement," Yasidi told The
Jakarta Post.
He said the consortium originally owed at least Rp 3.5
billion, excluding financial losses accrued from damage sustained
in riots during the soccer competition. The debt was reduced to
Rp 1 billion at the consortium's request.
According to Yasidi, even after the reduction, the
consortium's executive chairman Bambang Riyadi Sugama wrote him
on May 25 asking for the waiver.
"We have given them leniency, but they want more," Yasidi
complained.
Sugama said in his letter the consortium, chaired by former
president Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, was too broke to
pay the debt.
The consortium reportedly spent Rp 156.6 billion to finance
the biennial sporting events, far above the estimated budget of
Rp 75 billion. An audit by public accountant KPMG Hanadi
Sudjendro and Co. revealed that the consortium suffered a
financial deficit of Rp 64 billion. The audit also uncovered a Rp
1.8 billion swindle in the sticker sales for fund-raising
activities for the Games.
Yasidi said yesterday the consortium had requested the debt
clearance as compensation for the funds it used to build an
artificial hockey pitch.
But Yasidi rejected the barter, claiming Gelora Senayan
management had itself shelled out Rp 2 billion for the purchase
of carpet and additional equipment for the hockey pitch.
Yasidi said he would consult on the matter with newly
installed Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung, Minister of
Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono and Jakarta Governor
Sutiyoso.
Akbar is the ex-officio chairman of the sports complex's
management board.
A staff member of the consortium who requested anonymity said
that the whopping deficit and debt confounded the consortium's
executives.
"I hope people will be wiser in deciding our fate because
we're now penniless," she said. (emf)