Bank Arta Prima needs proper handling: House
JAKARTA (JP): Legislators warned the government yesterday to be careful how it settled the ailing Bank Arta Prima problem because mishandling could have a political impact that could affect the whole banking industry.
Efforts to rescue Bank Arta Prima have been complicated by what analysts say was an alleged promissory notes scam related to the bank.
Moreover, the Gunung Agung group is now trying to get the bank back from the Artha Graha group.
Deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Armed Forces faction, Andaja Lestari, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday that the government and Bank Indonesia should keep political interests out of the issue.
A Golkar faction House member, Bomer Pasaribu, shared Lestari's concern, saying that how the Bank Arta Prima problem was solved would affect the credibility of Bank Indonesia as guardian of the banking industry.
The alleged promissory notes scam came to light when the widely diversified Artha Graha group bought Bank Arta Prima on May 17 from PT Jagata Primabumi, which had bought it from the Gunung Agung group.
Reports say the Artha Graha group bought the bank through Bank Indonesia which had taken it over from PT Jagata Primabumi because of a promissory notes scandal.
When buying Bank Arta Prima from Gunung Agung, PT Jagata had agreed to take over Gunung Agung's debts to the bank of Rp 187 billion and to other financial institutions of Rp 177 billion, reports said.
The debts
PT Jagata asked Gunung Agung to issue promissory notes (promes) worth Rp 324 billion (US$94.3 million) to settle the debts.
Jagata failed to settle the promes.
The Artha Graha group promised to inject fresh funds into the bank but refused to take over the Rp 324-billion promes although they were all underwritten by the bank.
Six businessmen were arrested recently by police for the scam. They included Made Oka Masagung, a former Gunung Agung majority shareholder, Kim Johannes Mulia, from PT Jagata, and former directors and commissioners of Bank Arta Prima.
Gunung Agung, the original owner, is now trying to regain the bank.
Last week it began suing PT Jagata for US$612 million over the purchase agreement for the debt-ridden bank and demanded the court return the bank to it because PT Jagata had breached their contract of sale.
The Gunung Agung group, founded by the late H. Masagung in 1953, was taken over by PT Kosgoro and PT Trimuda in 1994 when it ran into financial trouble which later forced it to sell the bank. Kosgoro currently controls 80 percent of Gunung Agung.
According to banking sources, efforts to resolve the problem were underway with the help of Hayono Isman, state minister of youth affairs and sports, who is also a senior Kosgoro executive.
Gunung Agung's president, Lego Nirwhono, had reportedly invited an Artha Graha group shareholder, Tommy Winata, to discuss Bank Arta Prima's transfer to Gunung Agung Investment, a unit of the Gunung Agung group.
Tommy reportedly rejected the invitation. (pwn)