Bulk of Banpres funds still unreturned by third parties
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The bulk of the Presidential Aid Fund (Banpres) is still in the hands of third-party borrowers, making it technically impossible to transfer the funds to the finance ministry as required, State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo has said.
Briefing the media after a closed-door meeting with a team from House Commission I, Kesowo urged the Ministry of Finance to collect the funds itself.
"It is the responsibility of the finance ministry to collect the money from debtors. We are ready to help if the ministry is in need of staff," said Kesowo, who was accompanied by legislator R.K. Sembiring Meliala of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
He did not reveal how much money was still in the hands of third parties. Nor did he state the names of those borrowers.
But according to a report submitted by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), the third parties included the Consortium of Sea Games (Rp 35 billion), the Supreme Court (Rp 2.5 billion), nonperforming loans to 22 debtors in 2000 (Rp 106.4 billion), lecturers of Pancasila promotion (Rp 7.6 billion), PT Gama Agung Abadi (Rp 93 billion) and PT Teh Nusamba Group (Rp 12 billion).
As of April 30, the Banpres funds stood at Rp 509.26 billion and US$10.96 million. On May 22, Kesowo, who is currently in charge of the funds, transferred Rp 44.5 billion to the Ministry of Finance.
Based on Law No.20/1997 on nontax state revenue, all institutions have to hand over nontax state income to the finance ministry before May 23, 2002, and any violator of the law may face a maximum penalty of six years' imprisonment.
Members of Commission I's small team said on Tuesday that it needed more time to discuss the findings of its investigation into Banpres funds and to "harmonize perception on the issue" among themselves.
Happy Bone Zulkarnaen of Golkar said that the legislators asked Kesowo why borrowers of Banpres funds had failed to repay.
"Kesowo pledged that his office had been active in pressing the debtors," Happy told the media.
According to Happy, the 12-strong verification team would soon convene to coordinate among themselves on this matter.