IBRA seeks personal guarantee from debtors

JAKARTA (JP): The new chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Cacuk Sudarijanto said on Thursday that the agency would immediately summon former owners of banks to secure their personal guarantees in case the assets they pledged to recover debts to the government were insufficient.

Cacuk said that IBRA would revise the debt repayment agreement signed with the former owners of the banks in 1998.

"If the proceeds resulting from the sale of the assets are less than their obligations, we'll ask them to make up the balance with personal assets. But if the proceeds exceed (the obligations) we'll return the balance," he told reporters.

The measure is actually not a new one. IBRA said last year that it had secured personal guarantees from five of the largest indebted bankers.

Cacuk announced the measure amid strong criticism that the agency had received assets which turned out to have much lower value than initially claimed by the former bank owners.

Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie launched the first attack recently, by pointing out that an integrated shrimp industry called PT Dipasena Citra Darmaja which was valued by IBRA-appointed appraisers at around Rp 23 trillion has turned out to be a "worn-out article."

Legislators have also lambasted IBRA over this problem.

Dipasena is among the assets pledged by Sjamsul Nursalim, former owner of the now defunct Bank BDNI.

Sjamsul is one of the five largest debtors. The other largest debtors are Sudono Salim, Usman Admadjaja (respectively, the former owners of nationalized Bank BCA and Bank Danamon), Mohamad Bob Hasan (former owner of liquidated Bank Umum Nasional), and Samadikun Hartono (of now defunct Bank Modern).

In addition, there is another group of ex-bank owners (10 banks) who also owe the government, but smaller amounts.

The government injected more than Rp 140 trillion in liquidity support to the ailing banks to help them stay afloat amid plunging confidence in the domestic banking industry. Nearly Rp 100 trillion of the emergency liquidity support went to the banks of the above debtors.

The five ex-bank owners pledged their assets in October, amid strong public outrage.

But the government only signed a repayment deal with the five largest debtors in November 1998. (rei)