Government tells bankers to pay up or else

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib warned yesterday that the owners of commercial banks who had received massive government support credits could face prosecution if they failed to pay back all their loans by Monday.

"If they miss the deadline, we will investigate them on charges of corruption," Ghalib was quoted by Antara as saying.

He did not name the delinquent bank owners.

His statement gives a new twist to the loan scandal that has rocked several of the country's major banks.

Previously, the government had only stated that it would take over the assets of the banks if the owners failed to pay up by the Sept. 21 deadline.

Although corruption is a capital offense, no court has ever meted out the maximum penalty.

The government last month nationalized four major private banks -- Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Danamon, Bank Tiara and Bank PDFCI -- and suspended the operations of three others -- Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI), Bank Umum Nasional (BUN) and Modern Bank.

BCA, which was Indonesia's largest commercial bank until depositors rushed to withdraw their money in July, was owned by tycoon Liem Sioe Liong.

Ghalib's office has been questioning some of the owners of the banks -- including tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hasan who had shares in BUM -- over the possibility of recovering the state money.

Owners of six other commercial banks suspended in April have also been questioned.

Most of those questioned reportedly agreed to pay back the central bank loans, but it was not immediately clear whether they had enough money or sufficient assets to sell to pay the government by the deadline. (emb)