Bank Bali confident of funds return
JAKARTA (JP): Head of Bank Bali's new management team, Douglas Beckett, said on Wednesday that a little more than half of the Rp 546 billion (US$74 million) funds missing from the bank were returned as of Wednesday.
He said that some Rp 287 billion was placed in an escrow account with Bank Bali and of that total Rp 112 billion was transferred through Bank BNI on Monday and another Rp 175 billion through Bank Lippo on Tuesday.
"But we're confident that all the money will be returned this week," Beckett said at a media conference.
Beckett is a banker assigned by U.K.-based Standard Chartered Bank to lead the new management team of Bank Bali since July 26. The British bank was given management control by IBRA as part of an agreement to purchase a 20 percent stake in Bank Bali.
Standard Chartered found out on July 20 that some Rp 546 billion was missing from Bank Bali through questionable transfers which were later linked with a trading and investment company headed by the vice treasurer of the ruling Golkar Party.
Banking law expert Pradjoto revealed the controversial transaction to the media late last month, saying that the money was used as a commission for PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) for its service to help the bank recoup some Rp 904 billion in interbank claims on closed-down Bank BDNI which were guaranteed by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
EGP is a company owned by businessmen Djoko Chandra and Setya Novanto, who are linked to the ruling Golkar Party, raising speculation that part of the money was used to secure election of President B.J. Habibie in November.
Former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli, IBRA deputy chairman Pande Lubis and several high-ranking government officials close to President B.J. Habibie were implicated in the scandal.
Head of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), A.A. Baramuli, who was also believed to be involved in the scandal, said last week that Setya would return the missing funds in full on Monday.
But Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin said on Tuesday that only some of the money was returned. He said the rest would be returned on Wednesday.
The pledge to return the missing funds does not, however, assuage the public's demand for a thorough investigation and to take the "real" culprits to court.
When asked to comment on this, Sjahril said on Wednesday that the main concern of the country's banking authority was how to collect the missing funds.
Sjahril said that the central bank and the Ministry of Finance would ask for the advice of the Attorney General concerning the possibility of taking legal action against those involved in the irregular deal.
In a related development, the National Police summoned Rudy Ramli for questioning on Wednesday.
Rudy and four other Bank Bali senior executives have been named as suspects by the police in addition to EGP's Setya and Djoko.
Police spokesman Togar Sianipar said that Djoko would be summoned on Friday.
But sources said that the police found difficulties in summoning Setya because he was also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly.
IBRA deputy chairman Farid Harianto said on Monday that Rudy was also "indicated" to have quietly sold some $130 million of Bank Bali's loan portfolio assets which might increase the recapitalization cost of the bank.
Farid said that Standard Chartered informed the agency about the indication on July 20.
In its letter to IBRA, a copy of which was obtained by the Jakarta Post, Standard Chartered informed the agency of questionable transactions at Bank Bali, in addition to the missing funds of Rp 546 billion.
"We are aware that late last week, Bank Bali, through Price Waterhouse Cooper, has attempted to sell a package of loans in Singapore. A significant number of loans listed for sale were classified as category 5 (bad loans). The total size of the package of outstanding principal and accrued interest is $132 million," the letter dated July 20 said.
Category 5 loans are nonperforming loans (NPLs) which should be transferred to IBRA. Whatever IBRA can eventually recover from the bad loans would be used to help finance the government's contribution to recapitalize the bank.
Farid said that an audit process was still underway to verify the asset sale indication.
Meanwhile, Beckett also said on Wednesday that Standard Chartered would not withdraw its plans to enter Bank Bali despite the scandal.
IBRA chairman Glenn S. Yusuf said the government would not cover the missing funds.
He said that if the money was not fully returned, Bank Bali might have to operate with a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of less than the required 4 percent level.
Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam), Jusuf Anwar, said on Wednesday that the agency formed a special team to investigate possible insider trading in the shares of publicly listed Bank Bali prior to the nationalization of the bank on July 23. (rei/prb/emf/ylt/udi)