Two more ex-bank owners to be declared debt free

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will soon declare debt-free status for former bank owners Sjamsul Nursalim and Bob Hasan as the two have almost settled their debts to the state.

The Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC), which groups senior economics ministers, has given its approval for Sjamsul to obtain the status after the latter had transferred assets to settle the debt, chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Sjafruddin Temenggung said on Tuesday.

IBRA was closed down in February, but is still given until the end of this month to settle unfinished matters including the recovery of state funds that were given to troubled banks in the wake of the late 1990s financial crisis. Many of the banks have been shut down and the former owners must repay the debts.

Sjafruddin said that the debt-free status would only be declared after FSPC concludes that the assets did not have any future liabilities owed to other parties.

Sjamsul, who is the former owner of the now defunct Bank BDNI, had transferred ownership in three companies; tire maker PT Gadjah Tunggal, chemical firm PT GT Petrochem and shrimp producer PT Dipasena. The two first companies have been sold by IBRA to an investment firm called Garibaldi Venture Fund.

The debt free status will allow indebted former bank owners to walk free, totally cleared of any legal charges over alleged violations.

As for Bob Hasan, Syafruddin explained that the former owner of the now defunct Bank BUN will be declared debt-free as soon as he has handed over more assets to repay his debt.

"Our audit towards the assets of nine companies he previously handed over revealed a total value of only Rp 110 billion, which means he has to add another Rp 40 billion to fulfill his total liability of Rp 150 billion," he said.

IBRA, continued Syafruddin, requested that Bob Hasan also hand over another 14 percent of shares in his insurance firm PT Tugu Pratama. Bob, who was recently released from prison for other graft charges, previously handed over 3.5 percent of the firm's shares.

"The shares to be handed over must not have any legal disputes with other shareholders," he said.

To date, the government has granted debt-free status to thirteen ex-bank owners including former Bank Central Asia (BCA) owner Anthony Salim -- who was the largest debtor -- and four other ex-bank owners just last month.