IBRA to sue former Dharmala boss
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) will file criminal charges against the owner of the now bankrupt PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera over a disputed sale of Dharmala's 40 percent stake in an insurance firm.
Samosir, the partner of IBRA's legal representative Bob Nasution, confirmed on Tuesday news that Bob had received the power of attorney from IBRA to file charges against Suyanto Gondokusumo, founder and former president of the Dharmala Group.
"We received the letter of power of attorney from IBRA three days ago; Friday last week," he told The Jakarta Post.
But Samosir declined to reveal any details on the charges against Suyanto.
He said he must first meet with IBRA and other parties, before specifying the legal steps to be taken against Suyanto.
"Our position will be clear in a couple of days," he said, adding that Suyanto's dossier could be handed over to the Attorney General's office within this week.
IBRA's move against Dharmala followed IBRA's failure to recoup part of its loans from the company.
The agency is one of the 19 creditors that filed bankruptcy against Dharmala at the Central Jakarta Commercial Court last year.
Through an auction, the court sold Dharmala's 40 percent stake in the insurance firm PT Asuransi Jiwa Indonesia (AJMI) to its parent company Manulife Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. of Canada for Rp 170 billion (US$17.8 million).
IBRA should have received Rp 56 billion in proceeds from the sales, but the auction was disputed by West Samoan firm Roman Gold Assets Limited.
Roman claimed to be the rightful owner of Dharmala's stake in AJMI, and accused Manulife of forging share certificates.
Responding to Roman's complaints, the police froze the bank account where the money from the auction was being kept.
So far, neither IBRA nor the other 18 creditors have managed to retrieve their part of the sales proceeds.
Other creditors of Dharmala include among others Standard Chartered Bank with some Rp 167 billion in loans, Deutsche Bank with Rp 15.8 billion, and ABN AMRO Bank with Rp 85 billion.
But IBRA, the creditor said, could not afford to ignore its own stake because of the agency's tight revenue target.
Filing bankruptcy against debtors is part of IBRA's efforts to recoup non-performing loans which it took over from local banks during the economic crisis.
Managing director of Manulife Indonesia Chris Bendl has said earlier that IBRA was concerned that Dharmala might actually manage to siphon the sale proceeds through Roman Gold as its cover.
"If Dharmala gets away with this, it'll be a dangerous precedent," he said.
According to him, Dharmala's tactic could be copied by rogue debtors seeking to avoid their assets being transferred to IBRA.
He said he had met senior government officials, who have expressed their support to settle the dispute with Dharmala.
Bendl added that the World Bank had also expressed its concern over the issue, and that senior officials at the bank's headquarters might raise the issue when they visit Indonesia next month.
AJMI is nine percent owned by World Bank subsidiary the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with the remaining belonging to Manulife Indonesia.
Meanwhile, IBRA said it had temporarily dropped plans to file bankruptcy against real estate developer PT Bukit Jonggol, after both agreed on a debt restructuring plan.
In a statement on Monday, IBRA said that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bukit Jonggol to restructure the company's Rp 1 trillion debt to IBRA.
Under the plan, Bukit Jonggol is to pay IBRA Rp 20 billion in cash within one month upon signing of the MOU.
The company will transfer another Rp 80 billion into a escrow account for later use as working capital.
It must also surrender 10,000 hectares of land as collateral to the agency within the next 12 months.
Bukit Jonggol is owned by Bambang Trihatmodjo, the son of former President Soeharto; Usman Atmadja, the founder of Bank Danamon; and the Salim Group. (bkm)