Legal status of closed bank owners questioned
Legal status of closed bank owners questioned
JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia, the central bank, must clarify
the legal status of the owners of the 16 banks recently closed by
the government, legal experts said here yesterday.
Economics law consultant Abdul Hakim G. Nusantara said legal
aspects regarding the closure of the 16 private banks last month
remained unclear, including the legal status of their
shareholders.
The uncertainty was reflected in the case of President
Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, who owned a 25 percent stake
in the closed Bank Andromeda, Hakim said.
After Bank Andromeda's closure, Bambang, chairman of the
Bimantara Group, reportedly acquired the license of Bank Alfa.
Bank Alfa's assets and liabilities had earlier been taken over by
Bank Risjad Salim International of the giant Salim Group.
Bank Alfa has since acquired the assets and liabilities of the
closed Bank Andromeda.
Hakim said the owners of the closed banks, including those of
Bank Andromeda, could be blacklisted by Bank Indonesia if found
liable for the mismanagement of public funds.
However, the implementation of the law did not indicate this,
he said at a discussion on the economic legal system in the
country.
"The acquisition of Bank Andromeda (by Bank Alfa) came before
Bank Andromeda's liquidation process even began," he said.
Bank Indonesia Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono said in a
House of Representative hearing recently that commissioners or
owners of the closed banks would not be blacklisted if they were
found not responsible for making their banks insolvent.
Hakim said it was not clear if the law was imposed on the
banks as institutions or the owners themselves.
"The criteria for the blacklisting process was not
transparent," he said.
In the case of Bambang, Hakim said, his motivation for
acquiring Bank Alfa could be to speed up Bank Andromeda's
liquidation process.
"If this could solve the problem of returning funds to
depositors, then make it a model solution for the other 15 banks
too," Hakim said.
Economics legal analyst Hamid Awaludin said yesterday owners
of banks which violated the law, could also be prosecuted under
criminal charges in addition to administrative sanctions.
Hamid said the personal assets of the banks' owners could be
liquidated to pay their depositors.
However, during the interim between the banks' closures and
the time liquidation teams were required to be set up, the
finance ministry and central bank had not taken any action, he
said.
"This could encourage the banks' owners to conceal their
personal wealth," he said.
Abdul Hakim said the government must also address issues on
bank transparency before it could regain public trust, he said.
Hakim said Bank Indonesia must also review its concept of bank
secrecy, since it had been used as a shield to cover financial
problems.
"Bank secrecy is supposed to protect depositors, so that the
banks cannot disclose any information regarding their
depositors," said Pradjoto, a legal consultant of Pradjoto and
Partners.
Former House of Representative member Tadjudin Noer Said
stated at yesterday's discussion that the government tended to
reform the economy only when it faced hardship.
He said economic reforms seemed to be established in reaction
to urgent needs, instead of being carefully planned.
"It seems we only deregulate or cut bureaucratic tape when we
need to borrow money," Tadjudin, known as an outspoken house
member representing the ruling Golkar during the 1992-1997
period, said.
As a result, many legal aspects of economic reforms remained
unclear, he said.
When Singapore was reforming its economy, it focussed its
attention on the legal aspects, he said.
In Indonesia, the uncertainty caused economic reform to be
less effective, he said. (das)