IBRA seals $1.22b deal with bank owners
IBRA seals $1.22b deal with bank owners
JAKARTA (JP): The owners of 25 banks closed down by the
government in 1999 signed an agreement with the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) on Monday to surrender assets to
repay some US$1.22 billion in debts to the government, a senior
official of the agency said on Monday.
IBRA deputy chairman Arwin Rasyid said that the owners of the
banks owed the government approximately Rp 10.5 trillion ($1.22
billion).
"The shareholders of 25 closed banks have signed the terms and
conditions of the shareholder settlement program with IBRA,"
Arwin said at a news conference.
He said that the owners of the banks were expected to complete
the entire legal process of the asset transfer in September at
the latest.
The 25 banks are part of the 38 banks closed down by the
government in 1999 due to financial distress, insolvency or
violations of the legal lending limit and other banking
regulations.
The government injected massive liquidity support between 1998
and 1999 to bail out the banking industry when confidence in the
industry plunged. The bank owners now have to repay their debts.
Arwin said that seven of the 39 banks were proven to have not
breached any banking rulings, so their owners had no obligation
to repay debts under the agency's shareholder settlement program.
He said that the seven banks were the now defunct Bank
Kharisma, Bank SGP, Bank Dana Asia, Bank Bepede Indonesia, Bank
Dagang Industry and Bank Ficorinvest, which was co-owned by a
company linked to Abdurrahman Wahid, now the country's President.
Arwin also said that owners of three closed banks -- Bank
Sino, Bank Alfa and Bank Pesona -- had agreed to repay their
obligation in cash.
Arwin, however, added that the owners of four other banks had
not yet reached an agreement with the agency by the Monday
deadline because of disagreement over the size of their
obligations.
He said that the four banks owed the government approximately
Rp 3.8 trillion, of which Rp 3.7 trillion was owed by Bank Aspac.
Arwin added that the remaining three banks were Bank Central
Dagang, Bank Dewa Rutji and Bank Orient.
"Legal proceedings will be taken against the shareholders who
have not signed the terms and conditions of the shareholder
settlement program," Arwin said.
The 25 banks whose owners have reached an agreement with the
agency to surrender assets to repay debts are Bank Sewu, Bank
Papan Sejahtera, Bank Indonesia Raya, Bank Dharmala, Bank
Ciputra, Bank Aken, Bank Intan, Bank Umum Servitia, Bank Arya
Panduarta, Bank Danahutama, Bank Budi International, Bank Yama,
Bank PSP, Bank Mashill Utama, Bank Indotrade, Bank Bumi Raya
Utama, Bank Baja, Bank Tata, Bank Lautan Berlian, Bank
Metropolitan, Bank Hastin, Bank Namura, Bank Bahari, Bank Sanho
and Bank Putera Multikarsa.
Meanwhile, IBRA deputy chairman Mahmuddin Yasin said the
agency had reached an "understanding" with Sjamsul Nursalim on
Monday to proceed with negotiations about the repayment of his
debts to the government.
He declined to provide details.
Sjamsul is the owner of the now defunct Bank Dagang Nasional
Indonesia (BDNI), which owes the government a massive Rp 28.5
trillion.
IBRA urged Sjamsul last week to be cooperative in settling his
obligation.
The agency said that Sjamsul had earlier pledged to repay Rp 1
trillion of his obligation in cash but IBRA has so far received
only about Rp 337 billion.
IBRA also said that Sjamsul had to surrender more assets
because the value of the assets pledged earlier to repay the
remaining Rp 27.5 trillion had dropped sharply. (rei)