Peter Gontha Dismantles Garuda Indonesia's Debt Of Hundreds Of Billions At Traveloka, President Director Irfan Setiaputra: That's According To Him

JAKARTA - It is said that Garuda owes hundreds of billions to the ticket sales platform, Traveloka. This was revealed by former Garuda Indonesia Commissioner Peter F Gontha who was open about the problems faced by the national airline Garuda Indonesia.

In response to this, the President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, considered that the statement was merely an argument. Even so, Irfan did not provide further information confirming whether this national airline owed or not.

"That's according to him (Peter Gontha, Garuda is in debt)," he said when contacted by VOI, Monday, December 13.

As previously reported, Peter explained that the debt scheme used was Garuda selling tickets through Traveloka. Then, the ticket sales will be taken by Traveloka as the debt payer of Garuda Indonesia.

"So the tickets have been displayed, so in the future if the tickets are paid for via Traveloka, the money will not be for Garuda, for Traveloka and not for Rp10-Rp20 billion, hundreds of billions. But maybe it has been resolved," he said in a discussion at the DPR Building, quoted Thursday, December 2 .

Furthermore, Peter said this step was taken by Garuda management, because Garuda was having financial problems. Peter admitted that he objected to the loan.

"So all this time Garuda has no money. During the last months and I really object to them borrowing money from Traveloka," he said.

Garuda Indonesia is currently experiencing very difficult financial conditions. Initially, the company's finances were in dire straits due to the mismanagement of the previous management, which indicated that they were practicing mark-ups on aircraft rentals.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir since his early tenure as minister in early 2019 has started cleaning up Garuda Indonesia's internals. This was done after the Brompton-Harley smuggling scandal was revealed. But unfortunately, the company's internal cleaning has not been able to overcome Garuda's chronic illness.

Even today, Garuda's condition is increasingly critical. This is because the condition has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has suppressed the company's revenue. Garuda's recovery efforts have begun to be combined since 2020. However, Garuda's financial situation has not improved. Even now, Garuda has debts worth 9.7 million dollars or equivalent to Rp. 138.5 trillion (assuming the US dollar exchange rate is Rp. 14,200).

Based on data from Garuda Indonesia's presentation at the RDP with Commission VI of the DPR on November 9, Garuda Indonesia bears a debt of 9.7 million US dollars or Rp. 138.5 trillion and assets of only 6.9 million US dollars or 98.3 trillion rupiahs. Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia's equity was also recorded minus 2.8 million US dollars or Rp. 40.2 trillion with an additional negative equity each month reaching 100 to 150 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 1.3 trillion to Rp. 2 trillion.

The largest component of Garuda's debt, which is 66 percent or US$ 6,351 million, is debt to lessors. If converted into rupiah, the debt to the lessor will reach IDR 90.2 trillion. Then, the composition of the second largest debt is bank, which is 967 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 13.8 trillion. The percentage reaches 10 percent of the total debt.

Then, OWK, Sukuk, KIK EBA amounted to 630 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 9 trillion. This amount is equivalent to 10 percent of Garuda's debt composition. Then, the debt of SOE vendors is 595 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 8.4 trillion, with a percentage of 6 percent of the total debt.

Then, private vendor debt with a value of 317 million US dollars or Rp. 4.5 trillion. The percentage reaches 3 percent of Garuda's debt component. Furthermore, other liabilities amounted to 751 million US dollars or Rp. 10.7 trillion, with a percentage of 8 percent of the total debt.

Therefore, Deputy Minister of BUMN II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo bluntly said that Garuda Indonesia was technically bankrupt. In fact, the equity balance of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk has surpassed that of PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero). He said that Garuda had negative equity of US$2.8 billion or equivalent to Rp40 trillion.

PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero) was recorded to have negative equity reaching IDR 38.4 trillion as of December 2020. Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia as of September 2021 was in a negative position of USD 2.8 billion or IDR 40 trillion.

Kartika said that the drop in the level of Garuda Indonesia's balance sheet was also caused by the statement of financial accounting standard (PSAK) 73 made by the company in 2020-2021 which caused the impact of the decline in equity to deepen.

According to Kartika, this position has technically dragged the company into bankruptcy.

"In this condition in terms of banking, it is technically bankrupt, but not legally, this is what we are currently trying to get out of this position," he said in a meeting with Commission VI of the DPR, Tuesday, November 9.

Furthermore, Kartika said, the assumption of bankruptcy is because in practice some of Garuda Indonesia's obligations have not been paid. In fact, the salaries of employees have been cut since 2020. As for the salaries of company officials, some have been withheld.

"So we have to understand together that Garuda's situation is actually technically bankrupt. Because no long-term obligations have been paid, including global sukuk, including himbara and so on," he said.