Legal process of three tycoons delayed

SEOUL (JP): In a disclosure that might trigger another controversy back home, President Abdurrahman Wahid admitted here on Thursday he had ordered the Attorney General's Office to delay the prosecution of three of the country's most prominent businessmen and largest debtors.

Speaking before members of the Indonesian community in South Korea, Abdurrahman said he had asked prosecutors to delay legal proceedings against Texmaco Group chairman Marimutu Sinivasan, Barito Pacific Group chairman Prajogo Pangestu and the chairman of the Gadjah Tunggal Group, Syamsul Nursalim.

"This (move) is necessary because the business groups are major exporters who can contribute greatly to the economic recovery process," noted Abdurrahman, more frequently referred to by his nickname Gus Dur.

Abdurrahman arrived here on Wednesday evening to attend the third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Friday and Saturday.

Gus Dur was accompanied at the gathering by First Lady S. Nuriyah, Minister of Trade and Industry Luhut Pandjaitan and Indonesian Ambassador to South Korea Abdul Gani.

He was quick to add, however, that the three conglomerates would "eventually have to face the law and be held accountable for causing huge financial losses to the state".

Gus Dur was responding to a comment by a participant at the gathering that law enforcement in Indonesia was slow to move and that the government seemed "to stall" the prosecution of certain individuals.

The three businessmen head conglomerates that owe billions of dollars in bad debts to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), a unit of the finance ministry.

Sinivasan is the owner of the giant textile and engineering Texmaco Group, which owes IBRA more than Rp 19 trillion (US$2.1 billion). The loans initially came from state banks, but were transferred to IBRA after they turned sour following the economic crisis.

The government recently reached a debt restructuring agreement with Texmaco, an agreement which was roundly criticized as being no more than a government bailout of the group.

A former Cabinet member in the Abdurrahman administration earlier accused Sinivasan of corruption in connection with the loans Texmaco received from state Bank BNI, but the Attorney General's Office dropped the case in May due to a lack of evidence.

Prajogo is the owner of the Barito Group, whose main focus is the timber industry. The group also owes trillions of rupiah to IBRA.

Syamsul Nursalim is the owner of the Gadjah Tunggal Group, which is the owner of the now defunct Bank BDNI and a large shrimp farm in Lampung, southern Sumatra.

Syamsul must repay the large amount of money injected by the government to bailout Bank BDNI which was eventually closed down.

IBRA and Sjamsul reached an agreement last year by which the businessman would transfer assets to the agency to repay the debt to the government. However, this agreement has been called into question recently after it was revealed the value of the pledged assets is far below the amount of the debt.

There also have been increasing calls on the government to take legal action against Syamsul and other former bank owners who allegedly violated the legal lending limit ruling.

Commenting on the lack of success in major corruption investigations, the President reiterated that "hard evidence is hard to come by".

"We are not stalling anything. The problem is that it is very difficult for the state to find evidence, and finding evidence will take some time.

"On the desk of Attorney General (Marzuki Darusman) there are now stacks of cases that can't be legally proven ... so we have to be patient here," Abdurrahman said. (bby)