BI wants 'names' of BCA bidders

BI wants 'names' of BCA bidders

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bank Indonesia demanded that the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency (IBRA) disclose the "ultimate shareholders" behind each of
the bidders vying for the government's 51 percent stake in Bank
Central Asia (BCA).

Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin said on Friday that
the move was necessary to ensure transparency and to avoid
possible manipulation.

"The reports (from IBRA) regarding those bidders should cover
all aspects required including their ultimate shareholders,"
Sjahril told reporters.

"It may appear on the surface as some sort of investment fund.
But we (BI) need to know who is behind it," he said, adding that
the central bank could not rely entirely on reports given by
bidders.

Nine bidders are competing for the BCA stake. The government
has banned the Salim Family and the family of former
authoritarian president Soeharto, the former owners of BCA, from
repurchasing a controlling stake in the bank. But there has been
suspicion that the former owners might try to reenter the bank
via proxy.

Among the bidders, expected to submit their final bids on Jan.
28, some are investment firms whose true investors have never
been revealed to the public.

The winning bidder is expected to be announced in February.

BCA was saved from bankruptcy and nationalized by the
government via IBRA in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis.

Bank Indonesia is currently preparing a fit and proper test
for the would-be controller stake-holder of BCA. Under the
existing regulations, businessmen or bankers who have violated
banking laws can not purchase more than a 10 percent stake in a
local bank.

Sjahril expected IBRA to submit complete data on the bidders
as part of the fit and proper test process.

To this point however, it was revealed that the data given by
the agency was nowhere near complete.

According to Ali Said, BI's deputy director, the data was so
insufficient that BI has not even begun the scheduled
investigation process.

The remarks could serve as another slap in the face for IBRA,
who has been under fire for its failure to ensure the public that
the bank's founder, the Salim Group, would not reenter BCA.