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)