Domas not involved in Mandiri bad loan case

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The management of palm oil company PT Domas Agro Inti Prima, a unit of the Domba Mas Group, has denied any involvement in the alleged lending scam at state-owned Bank Mandiri.

Domas president Feery Tanudjaja said recently that his company had secured a loan worth almost US$79 million from Bank Mandiri in 2002 to finance its 74-hectare oleochemical plant in Kuala Tandjung, North Sumatra. However, the company had met all the administrative and legal requirements and the formal procedure to get the loan, he explained.

"Media reports that Domas is one of four companies involved in the Bank Mandiri loan case are groundless. The recent result of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report has shown that Domas has no problem with its loan from Bank Mandiri and it has been paying back the loan in accordance with the lending agreement," he said.

The Attorney General's Office investigating the giant lending case has declared three top officials of the bank suspects and has planned to expand its investigation to include four companies -- PT Bakrie Telecom, PT Semen Bosowa Maros, PT Batavindo and Domas -- as they are four of the 28 companies that received a total of Rp 12 trillion (US$1.27 billion) in loans from the state bank.

Feery added that he had obtained a clarification from the BPK on the AGO's preliminary investigation result into the case last Friday. The result said Domas' payment of its installments had complied with the lending agreement.

"We have no problems in paying back the loan because we just signed large 10-year business deal worth $200 billion with Procter & Gamble Chemicals (P&G Chemicals), a major American company concentrating its activities in consumer products," he said.

Domas has a total of over four million hectares of oil palm plantations in Sumatra and operates several (crude palm oil) CPO factories in Riau and North Sumatra, to ensure raw materials for its integrated oleochemical factory, which is nearing completion.