Kosgoro told to drop lawsuit against Jagata
Kosgoro told to drop lawsuit against Jagata
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar-affiliated Kosgoro yesterday called on
its business arm PT Kosgoro to cancel its law suit against PT
Jagata Primabumi and settle a Bank Arta Prima dispute through
Bank Indonesia.
Kosgoro chairman Bambang W. Soeharto said his organization
would help the involved parties solve the Arta Prima promissory
notes debacle which resulted in the arrest of six businessmen.
"Let the central bank solve the problem because it knows
exactly what to do with Bank Arta Prima," he said.
PT Kosgoro is the majority shareholder of PT Gunung Agung and
Group that plans to sue Jagata Primabumi over the Bank Arta Prima
debacle. Five Gunung Agung executives were arrested and one from
Jagata.
PT Kosgoro and PT Gunung Agung accused Jagata Primabumi of not
fulfilling the contractual promises it made when taking over Bank
Arta Prima.
Bambang denied any formal link with Bank Arta Prima despite
the fact that the bank used to be indirectly controlled by PT
Kosgoro.
He said PT Kosgoro was an independent business unit set up by
members of Kosgoro, but had no formal link with Kosgoro.
"Kosgoro is run according to Law No 8/1985 on mass
organizations. So, Kosgoro has no businesses. But Kosgoro does
have independent business units like cooperatives ... they are
autonomous," Bambang said.
He said the business units contributed some of their profits
to the organization because they used Kosgoro's name.
Scam
He denied allegations that his organization was behind the
scam. But he did not rule out the possibility of Kosgoro people
being involved in the scam.
"If there is a professional from Kosgoro who managed the bank
and who is now being investigated by the authorities, that's his
personal responsibility," Bambang said.
The police are detaining the six men, alleging they tried to
sabotage Bank Arta prima by issuing fake promissory notes.
The six include Chaidil Aini, Husni Ali Thaqil, Hari Suhalim
and Marul Maulana -- all former directors and commissioners of
Bank Arta Prima -- Made Oka Masagung, a former majority
shareholder of Gunung Agung and Kim Johanes Mulia of PT Jagata
Primabumi.
When Jagata bought Bank Arta Prima from Gunung Agung it agreed
to take over Gunung Agung's debts to the bank of Rp 187 billion
and to other financial institutions of Rp 174 billion.
Jagata asked Gunung Agung to issue promissory notes of Rp 324
billion to settle the debts.
Jagata failed to settle the promissory notes and sold the bank
to the Artha Graha group through Bank Indonesia.
Bambang said he knew nothing about the deal.
"Morally, but not materially, I feel responsible for the scam.
So, I will ask PT Kosgoro to give us a detailed report about the
deal," Bambang said yesterday. (rid)