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)