IBRA is legally weak, but needed: Supreme Court justice
IBRA is legally weak, but needed: Supreme Court justice
JAKARTA (JP): The creation of the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) is legally weak, according to a
Supreme Court justice, but its existence is urgently needed to
retrieve the nation's assets.
"The substance of the 1999 government regulation regarding
IBRA indicates the judicial authority of a body which is not
judicial," Justice H.P. Panggabean said on Tuesday in a seminar
discussing IBRA's powers.
IBRA was established as a special body to prevent further
damage in the economic sector, but Panggabean said some refining
is needed to improve the agency's legal foundations.
"One way is to change the status of government regulation No.
17 of 1999 into a government regulation in lieu of the law,"
Panggabean said.
He said a government regulation is not enough to form a body
with such judicial authorities as IBRA has.
The existence of IBRA as a special body with special authority
is stipulated in government regulation No. 17 of 1999, which
originated from Banking Law No. 10 of 1998.
However, litigation lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said some
major rulings in the government regulation go beyond the banking
law on which the regulation is based.
"IBRA's power to issue a distress warrant which contains an
execution power which has the same legal power as a court
decision is excessive," Hotman said.
He also said that the agency's power to cancel the state
court's attestment order on a property breached the principle of
the law of procedure.
Hotman said that the regulation needed to be revised to comply
with the rest of the legal system.
"However, I have to agree that justice is being upheld by the
creation of IBRA, but at the expense of the law. This needs to be
corrected," Hotman said.
A foreign business executive joining the seminar said on
condition of anonymity that IBRA's significant role should
require that the agency works to a high standard of
professionalism.
"IBRA needs to have a very clear-cut philosophy, and know what
the agency is going to do in a clear timeframe," he said.
Taufik M. Enre of IBRA's legal department defended IBRA's
legal basis as adequate, saying that the creation of the agency
was the result of banking problems which are so severe as to
endanger the national economy.
"IBRA powers are within tolerable limits with regards to the
noble interest of retrieving the nation's assets." Taufik said.
He also said that the creation of IBRA was not without prior
consultation with the House of Representatives. (udi)