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)