CMNP signs agreement to end loan controversy

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed toll road operator PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada (CMNP) has formally transferred a personal loan worth US$70 million, secured from the sultan of Brunei, to a company owned by the eldest daughter of former president Soeharto.

CMNP director Teddy Kharsadi said on Tuesday the agreement on the transfer of the controversial loan to PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada (CLG) was signed in Brunei last week.

"We signed a tripartite termination agreement to clear up this loan mess with the Brunei Investment Agency and CLG last Friday in Brunei Darussalam," Teddy said after the extraordinary shareholders meeting.

In 1988, the Brunei agency, owned by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, extended a soft loan worth $70 million to former president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, through the toll-road operator of which she is president.

Teddy said CMNP never used any part of the loan, because all proceeds of the loan had been immediately transferred to CLG in the same year the loan was acquired.

The Brunei agency last December demanded partial repayment of the loan to CNMP. The loan, however, never appeared on CMNP's balance sheet.

The agency said that CMNP should have started repaying the principal through installment beginning in 1995. But the agency then withdrew its claim to CMNP last May and said that further dealings regarding the loan would be taken up with CLG, the company personally owned by Siti Hardiyanti.

Siti Hardiyanti, better known as Mbak Tutut, owns shares in CMNP through CLG, which holds a 2.92 percent stake in the toll- road company.

But the loan controversy then caused Prasetio Utomo, a public accountancy firm hired to audit CMNP, to refrain from ruling on the financial health of CMNP until the matter of the Brunei loan was resolved.

The public accountancy's refrain from issuing comments on CMNP's financial statements led to the suspension of the company's share trading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) in August.

Meanwhile, on the planned increase in tolls, Teddy said it was up to the House of Representatives to decide, not the toll-road companies.

"The decision is with the new members of the House of Representatives which will be inaugurated on Oct. 1," Teddy said.

Earlier reports said that seven toll-road operators and the Indonesian Tollway Association (ATI) had met with House of Representatives Commission IV to discuss the proposal to raise tolls.

The commission agreed in principle to the increase but a final decision must await a plenary meeting of the House. The Indonesian Consumers Foundation has objected to the proposal.

"The tolls may be increased very conservatively as only to reflect the increase in our road maintenance costs," Teddy speculated.

CMNP operates the Cawang-Tanjung Priok and Priok-Jembatan Tiga toll roads in Jakarta, several toll roads in East Java and one in Manila.

CMNP is owned by Yayasan Purna Bhakti Pertiwi (22.01 percent), PT Jasa Marga (17.79 percent), PT Krakatau Steel (8.9 percent), PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (8.8 percent), PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada (4.4 percent), PT Bhaskara Duniajaya (1.81 percent), cooperatives (0.49 percent) and the public (35.8 percent). (udi)