Government welcomes withdrawal of lawsuit

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announced Wednesday that the bank had withdrawn its lawsuit for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)