The establishment of a Banten regional bank is in doubt in light of a corruption case related to the planned bank and  involving several members of the Banten Legislative Council.

Banten Governor Rano Karno said on Thursday that the Home Ministry had ordered his administration to postpone the planned establishment.

'€œThe Home Ministry has ordered us to postpone [the establishment of the bank] while it looks at the process. We'€™ll have to wait,'€ he told journalists before a questioning session at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday.

Rano said that the establishment of a Banten regional bank was mandated in the province'€™s mid-term development plan (RPJMD) for 2012-2017. To implement the regional bank development plan, he further said, the Banten administration had issued two regional regulations (Perda), namely Perda No.5/2013 and Perda No.4/2012.

'€œBased on the RPJMD 2012-2017, it'€™s clear that our plan to establish a regional bank must continue,'€ said Rano, adding that he hoped the Home Ministry'€™s evaluation would not drag on.

On Thursday morning, Rano was questioned as a witness in a bribery case that has seen the KPK name as a suspect Ricky Tampinongkol, the non-active president director of Banten administration-owned enterprise PT Banten Global Development (BGD). Ricky is alleged to have bribed several Banten Legislative Council (DPRD) members.

On Dec.1, the KPK arrested two Banten lawmakers, namely Banten Legislative Council deputy speaker SM Hartono of the Golkar Party and Tri Satria Sentosa, the head of the council'€™s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction.

The KPK charged Hartono and Tri with corruption for allegedly accepting US$11,000 and Rp 60 million ($4,310.35) from Ricky in exchange for the disbursement of Rp 350 billion in regional funds to establish the bank.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said Perda No.5/2013 on the development of a Banten regional bank contradicted Perda No.5/2005 on the disbursement of the province'€™s regional funds and deposits, which bans the use of regional funds for high-risk enterprises.

Following the inclusion of the plan in the RPJMD 2012-2017, the Banten administration has disbursed Rp 250 billion , which was included in the revised 2015 regional budget (APBD).

BGD is a Banten administration-owned enterprise (BUMD) and was assigned by Rano to conduct a study on the establishment of the regional bank. The governor also ordered BGD to consult the Financial Services Authority (OJK) on the plan.

After finishing the consultation and study on Nov. 30, BGD submitted a report to Rano, telling him that four banks should be merged to establish the regional bank.

The four banks are private lender Bank Pundi, which is controlled by Recapital Securities, part of the Recapital Group founded by businessmen Rosan P. Roeslani, Sandiaga Uno and Elvin Ramli; Bank Windu Kentjana International (MCOR), a small, publicly listed lender based in Jakarta; publicly listed Bank MNC Internasional (MNC Bank); and Panin Bank Syariah.

Just three days after BGD handed the report to Rano, KPK investigators arrested Ricky for paying bribes to Hartono and Tri for helping to secure the budget allocation from the Banten Legislative Council to establish the regional bank. The council approved the disbursement of Rp 600 billion, on top of Rp 350 billion allocated in the 2016 budget, to support the establishment of the bank. Tri and Hartono are accused of accepting bribes several times between 2012 and 2014.

Tri and Hartono have been charged with Article 12 and/or Article 11 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication and Article 55 of the Criminal Code (KUHP). Meanwhile, Ricky is charged with Article 5 and/or Article 13 of the 1999 Corruption Eradication Law. (ebf)(+)

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