Experts welcome KPPU ruling on Indomobil scandal

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.