IBRA settles interbank claims

IBRA settles interbank claims

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA)
has completed the verification of Rp 935 billion plus US$9.6
million worth of interbank claims, according to agency deputy
chairman Sumantri Slamet.

He said late on Monday IBRA had sent a letter to Bank
Indonesia requesting the payment of the interbank claims to six
banks including Bank Internasional Indonesia (Rp 165 billion),
Bank CIC (Rp 30 billion), Bank Putera Multikarsa (Rp 300
billion), Bank Panin (Rp 140 billion), Bank Exim ($18.85
million), and the now defunct Bank Bahari ($750,000).

"IBRA has completed the verification (of the claims) and has
asked Bank Indonesia to pay the claims," Sumantri said in a press
statement.

Under the government blanket guarantee program, IBRA covers
all the obligations of closed down banks, including interbank
claims.

However, the repayment of interbank claims was temporarily
halted following the outbreak of the high-profile Bank Bali
scandal in July.

The scandal centers on the transfer of more than Rp 500
billion in commission fees from the bank to a private firm linked
to the Golkar Party, which helped the bank get the repayment of
its more than Rp 900 billion interbank claims.

IBRA ordered Ernst & Young in September to verify whether the
claims were eligible to be covered by the blanket guarantee
program.

The verification was completed on Dec. 10.

Sumantri said the agency was still in the process of
continuing the verification of other interbank claims as previous
attempts resulted in "inconclusiveness and unverifiability" due
to lack of supporting data.

"The agency will seek supporting information to prove whether
the claims were eligible or not," he said.

"We expect that we can have a conclusion on whether the claims
are valid or not in the first quarter of next year," he added.

He didn't say the amount of the remaining claims, but an IBRA
official earlier said the total interbank claims were equivalent
to around Rp 5 trillion.

Sumantri also did not disclose the fate of Bank Putera, which
was suspended two weeks ago after it failed to settle its
interbank clearing obligation.

Bank Putera's executive said earlier the bank waited for the
repayment of the interbank claim from IBRA to help settle its
obligation of about Rp 280 billion to resume operations. (rei)