Govt refuses to honor some accounts
Govt refuses to honor some accounts
Tony Hotland, Jakarta
The government announced on Monday that it would not honor
about Rp 153.75 billion (about US$17 million) in accounts in the
closed-down banks Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Bank Asiatic because
they fell in the "non-guaranteed" category.
The accounts were not guaranteed by the government because
they were owned by parties affiliated to the banks or gave
depositers interest rates above the guaranteed maximum rate set
by the central bank, Isa Rachmatarwata, head of the bank
guarantees unit at the Ministry of Finance, said.
The ministry said only 65 percent and 87 percent of verified
accounts in the BDB and Bank Asiatic respectively were guaranteed
by the government.
Up until Monday, the government had paid about Rp 799.32
billion (US$89.2 million) for the guaranteed accounts in the two
banks out of Rp 1.408 trillion prepared by Bank Negara Indonesia.
Isa said 79,180 (worth Rp 894.97 billion) out of 121,104
verified accounts in BDB and 2,000 accounts (worth Rp 508.4
billion) out of 2,289 verified accounts in Asiatic had been
included in the guaranteed list.
In BDB, there were 929 non-guaranteed accounts (Rp 119.4
billion), 39,764 unresolved accounts (Rp 515.71 billion), and 32
unverified accounts (Rp 90 million).
Unresolved accounts are those that do not have complete
documents or are suspected to be related to fictitious bonds,
while unverified accounts are those which have no supporting
documents at all.
In Asiatic, 22 non-guaranteed accounts (Rp 34.35 billion) and
267 unresolved accounts (Rp 396.26 billion) were recorded.
Isa explained that the non-guaranteed accounts would be
processed by the liquidation team of each bank.
The unresolved accounts owned by persons who are also debtors
will be settled by offsetting their debts from their savings. If
there is more left from the savings after being offset, the
leftover will be paid through the blanket guarantee program.
The status of the small number of unverified accounts would be
determined once the supporting documents are complete, Isa said.
Depositors of BDB and Asiatic can visit any branch of the two
banks to claim their money by bringing the original and a copy of
their identification cards and proof of their account ownership.
The documents will be cross-checked with the verification
reports from the Development and Finance Control Board.
The Ministry of Finance has decided to continue with its
decision to pay the depositors of BDB despite a court ruling that
put on hold the liquidation of the bank.
The Administrative Court has issued an injunction to
temporarily suspend the revocation by Bank Indonesia of BDB's
operating license.
Former BDB management say the ruling means they can take back
control of the bank, which is currently managed by a government-
sanctioned liquidation team.
However, Bank Indonesia has made a move to counter the
injunction. The case is still being examined by the
Administrative Court.
The central bank closed down BDB and Asiatic, owned by two
families connected by marriage, in May, due to their worsening
finances resulting from illegal transactions that involved bad
loans worth Rp 1.2 trillion.