Two firms fined for role in Bank Mashill's share deals
Two firms fined for role in Bank Mashill's share deals
JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
announced yesterday that Bank Mashill Utama had been fined Rp 7
million (US$3,000) and PT Sumatra Central Prima Rp 500 million in
connection with improper transactions of the bank's shares made
last month.
Rumors concerning a hostile takeover plan on Bank Mashill,
which emerged following a series of big transactions on the
bank's shares through the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) in early
April, had caused a controversy and heated debates among market
players, economists, market regulators and even the House of
Representatives.
The agency said in a six-page statement which detailed the
findings of its investigations into the transactions of Bank
Mashill's shares that it was true that several big deals had been
made on Bank Mashill's shares through the JSX, causing a
significant change in shareholders composition, but the Kerta
Widjaja family still owns 51 percent of the bank.
The statement said that a Bank Mashill director, Leo Yasin,
and one of the bank's major shareholders, PT Sumatra Central
Prima, sold 130,000 shares and 26 million shares respectively
through the JSX on April 8 and 9.
On April 9, two foreign companies -- Castlemere Enterprises
Ltd. and Duncanmill Holdings Inc. -- bought 33.6 million Bank
Mashill shares.
"As of April 15, Duncanmill already owned 19 million shares or
17.78 percent of Bank Mashill, while Castlemere owned 16.55
percent or 18 million shares," the statement said.
A director of PT Citra Marga, Tito Sulistio, disclosed that
Duncanmill is a finance company based in the British Virgin
Islands, jointly owned by President Soeharto's second daughter
Titik Prabowo, Tito Sulistio, PT Steady Safe's president Jopie
Widjaja and PT Bhakti Investama's president Harry Tanusudibyo.
Tito added that Castlemere is a Singapore-based trading
company owned by businessman Amir Gunawan.
The two parties, according to the Bapepam statement, reported
to Bapepam on April 17, April 18 and May 1 that they had executed
the transactions but did not reveal their intention to sell or
buy more shares.
Tito, on behalf of Duncanmill and Amir of Castlemere, however,
told newsmen on April 10 that they intended to propose a change
in the bank's management and that Castlemere would make a tender
offer to buy Duncanmill's stake.
The take-over rumors caused Bank Mashill's share price to rise
94 percent from Rp 1,375 on April 1, to Rp 2,700 on April 9. On
April 9 alone, the price sharply increased from Rp 1,950 to Rp
2,700.
The agency, however, said that it didn't find any evidence
that Tito's statement had provided misleading information to the
investing public.
"We have conducted a special investigation on Tito, because
when the transaction was made, he had become a commissioner of
the Surabaya Stock Exchange and a commissioner of the Indonesian
Clearing Depository (PT KDEI)," the agency said.
"We therefore warned him to be more careful in the future."
Tito, when contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday, refused to
give any comments.
The agency also found out that none of Mashill's executives
had given an official statement to the public about some big
transactions on Mashill's shares between April 1 and April 9,
although one of the bank's directors who is also a commissioner
of PT Sumatra Central Prima -- Jensen Koharjo -- had been
informed about the transactions.
Based on those findings, Bapepam decided to fine Bank Mashill
Rp 7 million for waiting seven days before reporting the
transactions made by Jensen or Sumatra Central Prima to the
agency.
The agency also fined Sumatra Central Prima Rp 500 million for
engaging in insider trading, which was executed by PT Surya Dumai
Sekurindo.
Noted economist Sjahrir hailed Bapepam's action, yet he
wondered why Tito received a light punishment.
Sjahrir told The Jakarta Post last night that Bapepam's
statement was ambiguous.
"It's cute. The statement said that Tito's action was
considered controversial, but the penalty was only in the form of
a warning. I think he must be ordered to step down from his
current position as SSX's commissioner." Sjahrir noted.
He said that Bapepam should further investigate to ascertain
as to whether Castlemere and Duncanmill are operating legally.
"Bapepam should also examine the source of the funds used by
those parties to pay for the transactions, because it was a big
deal. How could they have made a transaction up to Rp 61 billion
in only one day?" Sjahrir questioned. (alo)