KPPU forms BCA monitoring team
KPPU forms BCA monitoring team
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To help ensure transparency, the Business Competition Supervisory
Commission (KKPU) has set up a special team to monitor the high
profile sale of the government's 51 percent stake in the publicly
listed Bank Central Asia (BCA).
The KPPU said in a press statement issued on Tuesday that the
establishment of such a team was necessary to address concerns
that BCA's original owner, the Salim Group, might try to
repurchase the bank despite a government ban.
The commission said that several noted figures had been
appointed to the team.
They were: Pande Radja Silalahi, Faisal Basri, Bambang P.
Adiwiyoto, Syamsul Maarif and Sutrisno Iwantoro as chairman.
BCA was nationalized by the government through the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in the wake of the 1997
financial crisis. The agency now plans to sell the bank in a bid
to raise cash to help finance the state budget.
Concerns have been rife that Salim is pushing ahead with its
plan to regain control of the country's largest private bank, and
the lack of transparency surrounding the tender process has just
served to strengthen the suspicions.
The commission said that the sale of BCA had become a national
issue as the government had spent more than Rp 80 trillion (some
US$7.7 billion) in bailing out the bank at the height of the
financial crisis.
The commission was established in 1999 with its principal task
being to prevent irregularities in business practices in the
country so as to create fair and equitable competition.
The KPPU monitoring team is scheduled to quiz IBRA officers on
Wednesday on various matters regarding the BCA tender process.
The matters to be queried include clear criteria for bidders,
tender procedures and criteria, the process for determining the
winning bidder, and the latest progress in the tender process.
There are currently eight bidders competing for the
government's share of BCA. The bidders are expected to submit
their final bids on Jan. 28.
Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin said on
Tuesday that some bidders had yet to hand over the necessary
documents to allow the central bank to conduct a fit and proper
test.
He declined to elaborate or to name the bidders.
Investors planning to take a controlling stake in Indonesian
banks must pass a Bank Indonesia fit and proper test.
Since the attempt to sell off BCA was first launched in 2000,
a succession of snags have been hit arising from various sources,
including political interference and unfavorable market
conditions.
IBRA should have wrapped up a sell-off deal last year but was
forced to put back the deadline to give the current bidders more
time to conduct their due diligence processes on the bank.