KKN practices
KKN practices
I worked at the Monetary and Financial Research and
Development Center of the Finance Ministry in 1990. The finance
minister at the time was J.B. Sumarlin. I knew of the following:
Bambang Trihatmodjo, son of former president Soeharto, through
PT Bimantara applied to the finance minister to buy (take over)
shares from PT Intirub, a state-owned company in vehicle tire
production with factories in Palembang. The minister established
a team of experts to assess the value of PT Intirub shares. The
team's findings showed that the shares at a nominal price of Rp
1,000 when the company was established, were worth Rp 7,000,000 a
piece. The portfolio contained 1,000 shares.
Some time later the finance minister sold the Intirub shares
to Bambang Trihatmodjo for Rp 1,000,000 only. The state suffered
a loss of Rp 6 billion. It was said that the finance minister was
coerced into selling the shares cheaply because there was an
order from former president Soeharto.
Afterwards Bambamg Trihatmodjo sold the Intirub shares to the
Salim Group. The price is not known, but it is certain that the
sale yielded a huge profit. It was a very easy money earner.
Such practices conducted by the Soeharto family were not
limited to the Intirub shares. They were also committed in
relation to the shares of other state-owned companies and state
properties in the form of land and buildings. If the Habibie
government (the Attorney General) wishes to investigate such
manipulations, it can easily do so because the archives are still
in the Finance Ministry. Other owners of conglomerate businesses
and cronies of former president Soeharto, were also involved in
such practices.
Another matter worth probing into is the granting of credits
at low interest by government banks to the projects of the
Soeharto family. One example is the granting of credits with a
ceiling of US$600 million by a consortium of banks to PT Timor
Putra Nasional of which the majority of shares belong to Tommy
Soeharto. Also Presidential Instruction No.2 of 1996 to PT TPN
smelled of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), broke the
law, was detrimental to the state and enriched other people.
Is the Habibie government capable of taking action? The people
will see.
SUHARSONO HADIKUSUMO
Jakarta