Gajah Tunggal clarifies

Your article published on Dec. 2 titled Sjamsul Nursalim, profile of a bad debtors was unfair, tendentious and injurious. It did not reflect the balanced reporting deserving of The Jakarta Post. Your reporter made no attempt to solicit input from the primary party even though our channels have always been open. Nor were there objective efforts made to investigate the underlying documents yourselves to report the truth.

Proof that Mr. Nursalim has fulfilled Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia's financial obligations, including the Rp 1 trillion cash portion, comes from the signing of the Master of Settlement and Acquisition Agreement (MSAA) after eight months of due diligence by the government's own appointed financial and legal consultants of internationally recognized firms. We have confirmation correspondence by the International Bank Restructuring Agency acknowledging all repayments have been fulfilled by us. It was further to completion of this payment which led to the signing of the Closing of the MSAA which also provided a Release and Discharge signed by the then minister of finance and IBRA. The agreement was duly authorized.

Furthermore, IBRA had also made a legal statement witnessed by Merryana Suryana, a notary public in Jakarta, that stated all obligations have been paid and IBRA has released and discharged Mr. Nursalim. This is in black and white.

All evidence, including the government earlier confirmation correspondence and two separate authoritative Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) reports in 1999 and 2002, unequivocally confirmed full repayment and compliance of obligation by Mr. Nursalim on all respects of the MSAA.

Your key source is the Legal Assistance Team (TPBH), whom you highlighted. What you fail to explain is that it is hardly an objective third party but was established by one party in the negotiation. How can a party to the dispute investigate itself? Not only did the team not consent to meet with us and other bank owners or our lawyers to present our side of the evidence, they simply publicly announced their conclusion that we're not cooperative and thus must pay more. Is this objective? Hardly! Even so the head of their Legal Assistance team Mrs. Hadiah Herawati SH LLM, raised the point that IBRA must honor a Release and Discharge once issued.

An examination of official documents will clearly show that there could be no legal grounds for a corruption case involving the liquidity support funds.

Liquidity support funds were given to BDNI to help cope with the systemic banking crisis. None of the funds was extended to Mr. Nursalim's business group. All transactions were transparently documented, counter-signed and were all used to pay the bank's third-party obligations of depositors and financial institutions. The amount escalated due to the rupiah's plunge and the interest rate, which went as high as 80 percent, and heavy penalties imposed. The details and breakdown of the funds usage were published in several major local newspapers. None of the funds from the government was ever misappropriated! Even though BDNI was a publicly listed entity, Mr. Nursalim had to personally repay BDNI's full obligation under the MSAA.

These are the facts that are missing from your account. When you include them, it will change the impression that you are giving of Mr. Nursalim's guilt without all the evidence. That is neither fair nor ethical.

With deeper investigation and an open mind one will discover that Mr. Nursalim has fulfilled his obligations and may even have been victimized as a scapegoat. We wish the government and the public could give support toward legal certainty for all sectors to revive for the recovery of Indonesia's economy.

We hope your paper can maintain objectivity in writing reports and seek truth from facts.

CHATARINA WIDJAJA, Executive VP, Corporate Communications Gajah Tunggal