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Bapepam accused of buying time in Bakrie case
The Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK) has been strongly criticized for its slow response in dealing with accountancy errors made by three Bakrie affiliated firms and one unaffiliated oil and gas outfit
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T
he Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK) has been strongly criticized for its slow response in dealing with accountancy errors made by three Bakrie affiliated firms and one unaffiliated oil and gas outfit.
Local analysts expressed concern that Bapepam was “buying time” in a case that could implicate the related companies in a capital market criminal lawsuit for circulating “misleading information” capable of provoking a “trust crisis” in Indonesia’s stock market.
“Investors should be careful with Bakrie companies. This is not the first time that Bakrie-affiliated companies have miscalculated their financial statements.
“And Bapepam has not reacted accordingly in the past. This could undermine investor confidence in the Indonesian stock exchange,” BNI Securities research analyst Norico Gaman said Monday.
Bapepam has not acted firmly in its function as the authority to supervise and investigate cases in the capital market, stock market analyst Yanuar Rizky agreed.
“I sense preferential treatment in this case. Bapepam was not supposed to wait for the Indonesian stock exchange [IDX] to impose sanctions before it began processing the case. Bapepam is supposed to start investigating the companies as soon as they acknowledge any wrongdoing,” Rizky said.
“The BEI and Bapepam processes are substantially different,” Rizky told The Jakarta Post.
Bakrie’s holding company PT Bakrie and Brothers (BNBR), subsidiary PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantations (UNSP), affiliated unit PT Energi Mega Persada (ENRP) and unaffiliated oil and gas firm PT Benakat Petroleum Energy (BIPI) were each fined Rp 500 million by BEI for inability to provide sufficient documents explaining discrepancies in the amount of money placed in time deposits at Bank Capital.
“It has been weeks. Show the public that you’re doing your job,” said Rizky, referring to Bapepam officials who previously stated that they didn’t want to immediately announce the results of their investigation because they feared the related companies would try to conceal their mistakes.
“By buying time, Bapepam is allowing the companies the opportunity to eliminate evidence,” Rizky said,
Analysts said the four related firms may be fined up to Rp 10 billion company officials face 15 years in prison for violation of the stock market law on misleading information and data manipulation.
Analysts also pointed out unusual trade practices associated with Bakrie stocks, which continue trading activities even though buying and selling had been suspended.
The “missing funds” case began when the four companies reported time deposits at Bank Capital in their first-quarter financial reports that did not match figures reported by the bank.
The three Bakrie companies reported that they had time deposits worth Rp 9.05 trillion in Bank Capital in their first quarter financial reports, and Benakat recorded Rp 1.48 trillion.
However, in its first-quarter report, Bank Capital’s total deposits were only Rp 2.69 trillion. The companies submitted revised versions of their financial statements to IDX last week. (est)
