Notaries public protest fees for corporate endorsement

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Notary Public Association (INI) complained on Wednesday about the new rate for the endorsement of corporate bodies, which is 10 times the old rate.

The Rp 2 million fee for the endorsement process imposed by PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika, a company appointed by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to provide computerized services for the endorsement process, is too expensive, INI's chairman Harun Kamil told a press conference.

He said the new fee was too burdensome on the society compared to the old rate of Rp 200,000 using a manual endorsement process system.

Therefore he called upon the ministry to suspend the implementation of the expensive computerized system, scheduled to start Thursday.

He said INI turned down the new fee for the endorsement process because the provider company had also failed to transparently provide details of the fee to notaries public.

"Therefore, INI, through its plenary meeting in Batam on Feb. 16 decided to instruct all its members not to apply for the computerized system, for an indefinite period," he said.

He also questioned the justice minister's Jan. 31 decree on the application procedures and endorsement of corporate body's establishment.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Affairs launched a computerized system on Jan. 31 that could accelerate the process of the endorsement of corporate bodies.

The new system was also aimed at cutting the practices of collusion, corruption and nepotism since it system will not allow notaries public to physically deal with the ministry office staffs for filing limited company endorsement applications.

According to the then minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra, with the computerized system which will become effective on March 1, the endorsement on a corporate body proposed by a notary public can be shortened from 60 days to at a maximum of seven days.

Separately Director General of General Law Administration Romly Atmasasmita refused to comment on Wednesday on the new fee for corporate bodies endorsement.

But he told journalists that his office had received some 120 applications for endorsement through the computerized system, filed by notaries public.

"I have instructed my staffs not to accept and process applications filed using the manual system," he said.

He said that as of Feb. 28, there was a back log of some 14,000 applications.

The ministry receives up to 4,000 applications every month. But only half of the applications could be handled with the manual system. (01)