Experts welcome KPPU ruling on Indomobil scandal
Adianto P. Simamora The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Analysts welcomed on Friday the sanctions imposed by antimonopoly watchdog Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) on parties involved in the Indomobil scandal, saying the move would help revive investor confidence in this country.
They, however, expressed concern that the wrongdoers could still get away due to the corrupt court system.
"The sanctions are fair enough ... But my concern is that the court may fail to support the Commission's ruling because of bribes," said Dradjat Wibowo, an economist at the Institute for Development, Economics and Finance (Indef).
KPPU announced the result on Thursday of its investigation into the Indomobil case, and imposed penalties on six firms including high profile companies like local brokerage PT Trimegah Securities and the local unit of Deloitte & Touche consulting giant. The Commission also barred the two from any role in the future sale of assets held by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
The Indomobil case centered on the sale of the government's 72.63 percent stake in automaker PT Indomobil Sukses Internasional last year, which was won by a consortium called PT Cipta Sarana Duta Perkasa. Trimegah led the consortium, while Deloitte & Touche was the financial advisor in the transaction.
KPPU said that the consortium managed to win the Indomobil shares at a very low price of around Rp 625 billion (compared to Rp 2.4 trillion, the value of the company when it was taken over by the government via IBRA) by conspiring with several parties, possibly involving IBRA officials.
It said that such a conspiracy to win a tender process was against Antimonopoly Law No. 5/1999.
The Commission had also asked the Attorney General's Office to launch an investigation into IBRA officials responsible for the transaction.
Trimegah and Cipta Sarana, which must pay penalties of Rp 10.5 billion and Rp 228 billion respectively, have objected to the KPPU ruling and plan to file a complaint with the South Jakarta District Court.
According to the law, they are allowed to file the complaint with the court about the KPPU findings within 14 days.
Drajat feared that many Indonesian judges were still amenable to accepting bribes especially from big companies.
Meanwhile, University of Gadjah Mada economist Sri Adiningsih also welcomed the KPPU ruling, but quickly added that the Commission must be transparent with its investigation findings.
She also said that investors were closely watching the case, and that they want to see that the law is being seriously enforced in this country.
Raden Pardede, an economist at Danareksa Institute, concurred, saying that this would be a test case for the court.
"This problem is very complicated, especially for our court system because they have never handled such a (business) scandal before," Raden said.