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Government on hunt for $2.3b in BLBI funds
The government said Friday that it was seeking to collect Rp 31 trillion (US$2
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T
he government said Friday that it was seeking to collect Rp 31 trillion (US$2.3 billion) in outstanding loans from debtors in the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) case.
“The figure [Rp 31 trillion] is the amount we are trying to collect through cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police,” the Finance Ministry’s director general of state wealth, Sony Loho, said.
Sony said the amount excluded the Rp 3.7 trillion debt owed by the now-defunct Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI) owner, Sjamsul Nursalim, who was controversially granted a debt clearance letter (SKL) by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in 2004.
The BLBI case itself dates back to 1998, when Bank Indonesia (BI) lent Rp 145.5 trillion to help 48 problematic banks, including BDNI, to cope with massive runs during the 1997 to 1998 Asian financial crisis. It turned out that 95 percent of the money was allegedly embezzled.
Six years later, IBRA, under the leadership of Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung, decided that BDNI’s Sjamsul would only be required to pay Rp 1.1 trillion out of the Rp 4.8 trillion the latter was initially obliged to pay. In total, BDNI received Rp 28 trillion of the BLBI funds.
Syafruddin’s decision was based on a presidential decree issued by then president Megawati Soekarnoputri in December 2002, regulating the “release and discharge” letters, freeing recipients of the funds from the obligation of fully paying the debts.
Potential state losses from the case reached Rp 138.4 trillion, according to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), but BI previously claimed that Rp 109 trillion of that been recovered through IBRA.
After years of lengthy and dragging investigation, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Syafruddin the first suspect in the case on Tuesday.
Sjamsul, who is also known as the owner of tire giant Gajah Tunggal and coal miner Bukit Baiduri Energi, is currently in Singapore and the KPK has urged Sjamsul to return to the country for possible questioning.
The remaining Rp 31 trillion in outstanding loans, Sony said, was attributed to around 20 obligors. He, however, did not mention names.
According to data from the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), the 21 debtors include Hendra Liem of Budi International Bank, The Ning King of Dana Hutama Bank, Sudwikatmono of Bank Subentra and Bank Surya, Ibrahim Risjad of the Bank Risjad Salim International, Soedono Salim of Bank Central Asia (BCA), Siti Hardijanti Rukmana of Yakin Makmur Bank, Hashim Djojohadikusumo of Papan Sejahtera bank and Nirwan Bakrie of Nusa Nasional bank.
Civil organizations have urged the Finance Ministry to be more open with the information regarding the unsettled debts.
“If the Finance Ministry is really a reformist, it has to explain who has settled their debts and who has not, and when they will be settled,” said Apung Widadi, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) said recently.
The KPK has questioned 32 individuals in the BLBI case. They come from various institutions, such as the Finance Ministry, the central bank and the State Secretariat.
The AGO previously launched a probe into Sjamsul for allegedly misusing the BLBI funds, but dropped the case in 2008.
In 2014, the KPK probed the issuance of a release and discharge letter for Sjamsul and found indications that the decision could have been the result of collusion between Sjamsul and Syafruddin.
