IBRA seizes 14 ha land belonging to Tutut's company

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) seized 14 hectares of land in West Jakarta on Tuesday belonging to the indebted property firm PT Sinar Slipi Sejahtera, owned by former president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukamana.

IBRA's senior legal officer Agustus Sani Nugroho said the agency had seized the land collateral because Sinar Slipi had been uncooperative in settling its Rp 433.11 billion (US$61.8 million) and US$45.20 million debts owed to state-owned Bank Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo).

The agency took over the bad loans from Bapindo this year as part of the bank's recapitalization program.

"IBRA has seized the assets of Sinar Slipi today. The agency needs to take this action in a bid to save the state's claims," Sani told reporters at a press conference.

IBRA has received some Rp 220 trillion worth of non-performing loans from the country's closed down and recapitalized banks. The agency must recover the loans to raise cash to help finance the government bank restructuring and recapitalization programs estimated to cost some Rp 500 trillion.

The agency is empowered with a government regulation allowing it to bypass judicial processes in seizing debtors' assets.

IBRA has been criticized for its slowness in recovering the huge non-performing loans of business groups belonging mostly to politically well-connected people.

It is public knowledge that state banks have been treated as a cash cow by these people.

Sani said IBRA would hold a public auction for the seven parcels of land located in the South Tanjung Duren area of West Jakarta.

But he said the value of the 14 hectares of land was estimated to be roughly less than half of Sinar Slipi's debts.

Sani said IBRA would try to seek other company's assets, although he admitted that tracing them would be very difficult.

Sani said Sinar Slipi's debts had been non-performing since 1996.

He added that Bapindo had given several warnings to the company to settle its debts but there had been no positive response.

Sani also said IBRA had given Sinar Slipi the opportunity to restructure its debts, but the company didn't show any signs of cooperation until the deadline, which had been extended from June to July, had passed.

"In a bid to settle Sinar Slipi's obligation, IBRA also sent a final warning letter to the company on Dec. 10, informing them that they have until Dec. 17 to make a settlement," he said.

"But when the deadline passed, Sinar Slipi had not yet settled its obligation to IBRA," he added.

IBRA also announced on Tuesday the combined debt owed by 15 companies under the Napan group to the agency totaled Rp 2.98 trillion.

IBRA loan workout officer Irwan Siregar said the three largest debtors in the Napan Group were PT Polyped Karya Persada with combined debts of Rp 213.9 billion, private TV station PT Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV) with Rp 122.2 billion and PT Poly Trima Karyareksa with Rp 88.6 billion.

IBRA said the companies had so far been cooperative in settling their obligations to the agency through the debt restructuring process.

Napan is the agency's seventh largest indebted business group. Napan is owned by Henry Pribadi, Ibrahim Risyad and Sudwikatmono, former president Soeharto's cousin. (rei)