Govt set to pay Bank Dagang Bali depositors
Tony Hotland, Jakarta
The government promised on Friday to start reimbursing the depositors of Bank Dagang Bali (BDB), which went belly up earlier this year, despite a recent court ruling putting on hold the central bank's policy to liquidate the small-sized bank.
A finance ministry official Darmin Nasution said that the ministry had already completed the verification of all "clear" accounts in BDB.
"We completed the verification of all types of clear accounts today (Wednesday), and I hope to start paying the depositors in the next two days (Friday)," Darmin said on Wednesday.
He explained that the court ruling had no effect on the government's decision to pay the depositors. The government, he said, was only concerned with the fact that the BDB's operating license had been revoked by Bank Indonesia (BI).
"A recalled license is, in itself, sufficient for the government to start disbursing the blanket guarantee funds. It's Bank Indonesia that determines the status of a bank, not the Administrative Court. So if the court decided to suspend BI's decision, it's a problem between them ... it doesn't involve us," he explained.
The Administrative Court ruled last Thursday that the revocation of BDB's operating license should be temporarily suspended.
The central bank has said it would file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Darmin also said that the ministry was still working to verify "troubled" accounts since the process for such accounts took a longer time.
"Troubled accounts include those affiliated with the bank's management and owners, and those with insufficient supporting documents," he explained, quickly adding that the government most likely would not give the money back to the owners of those accounts.
Darmin previously said that the money to compensate the bank's depositors would come from the reserve funds in the government's 502 Account or 519 Account.
However, he did not provide the exact amount of money to be disbursed and the number of troubled accounts.
Founded in 1970 by businessman I Gusti Made Oka, BDB had around 408,000 depositors at its 31 branches.
The central bank closed down BDB, along with Bank Asiatic, in May due to a worsening in their finances resulting from illegal transactions between the two banks involving loans worth Rp 1.2 trillion (US$127.65 million).
Bank Indonesia has said that the banks, owned by two families connected by marriage, had violated prudential banking regulations, causing irredeemable liquidity problems.