Government welcomes withdrawal of lawsuit

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad and Bank Indonesia Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono welcomed yesterday a move by Bank Andromeda to drop its lawsuit against them over the bank's closure.

"We welcome the decision to withdraw the lawsuit against the government's decision to revoke the license of Bank Andromeda," Mar'ie said in a statement from Tokyo, a copy of which was made available here.

Bank Andromeda is one of 16 banks whose licenses were revoked by the government on Nov. 1, the first move in a reform package backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to clean up the financial sector.

Last week, President Soeharto's second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo -- a 25 percent shareholder of the bank -- sued Mar'ie and Soedradjad through the Jakarta State Administrative Court to challenge the closure of his bank.

Andromeda's move was followed by Bank Jakarta, owned by Soeharto's half brother Probosutedjo, with a similar legal challenge to the closure of his bank.

Probosutedjo has reportedly refused to sign documents on the closure of his bank.

But Bambang, on behalf of Bank Andromeda's shareholders, announced Wednesday that the bank had withdrawn its lawsuit for the national interest.

"This wise decision will smoothen the next process, and this is in line with the government's call, like that made before the House of Representatives' plenary session on Nov. 10," Mar'ie said.

When speaking before the plenary session, Mar'ie called on the owners, management and employees of the closed banks to cooperate with the government in liquidating their banks.

"We especially appreciate and agree with Bambang Trihatmodjo's statement that in deciding anything, we must consider the national interest first," Mar'ie said.

"This becomes more meaningful because all of the nation's potential should be used to make the national economy recover quickly," he added.

In a similar tone, Soedradjad said he appreciated Bank Andromeda's decision to withdraw the suit and the press statement by Bambang Trihatmodjo.

He described the decision as wise and based on an awareness that the government's policy in banking was for the sake of the nation.

"This will be very helpful in efforts to restructure the national banking system, which will, in the end, have a positive effect on the restoration of national economic stability," he said. (rid)