Gajah Tunggal clarifies

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