The Long Road To The BLBI Case That Loses Hundreds Of Trillions To The State And The Summoning Of Tommy Suharto

JAKARTA - The government seems to be making every effort to be able to meet the adequacy of the budget following the pandemic situation that drains the country's coffers. Recently, the government tried to resolve the issue of Bank Indonesia's liquidity assistance (BLBI) which was suspected to have caused hundreds of trillions of losses to the state.

The first bright spot was proven by the meeting of the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani with the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD in early June.

In his statement, the Minister of Finance said that the government is still providing Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds to the central bank amounting to Rp. 110.454 trillion, which was disbursed to obligors and debtors during the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

"Until today, the government still has to pay the BLBI to the central bank, which poured funds into banks, which at that time were experiencing liquidity difficulties," he said.

The Minister of Finance added that this problem had been dormant for a long time and firmness was needed from the state to get a real solution.

"Because the time has been very long, so now it's more than 20 years, of course we no longer question the good intentions (of the obligors and debtors), just want to pay or not," he said.

The meeting of President Jokowi's two ministers was also the momentum for the inauguration of the State Billing Rights Task Force (Satgas) related to the BLBI case, chaired by the Director General of State Assets of the Ministry of Finance, Rionald Silaban.

Later, the Task Force will be accompanied by a number of related ministries and institutions, namely the Indonesian Police, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Indonesian Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of ATR, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, as well as the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, and the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Investment.

Most recently, the BLBI Task Force plans to summon Hutomo Mandala Putra alias Tommy Suharto on Thursday, August 26, 2021 this week. The information was conveyed by the BLBI Task Force through its national broadcast in newspapers as part of the summons procedure to the related parties.

"In connection with the implementation of the tasks of the BLBI Task Force which is based on the Decree of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2021, we are hereby requesting your presence on Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 15.00 WIB at the Syarifudin Prawiranegara Building, 4th Floor, Ministry of Finance, Central Jakarta," said the BLBI Task Force as quoted on Tuesday, August 24.

Not only Tommy Suharto, the Task Force also made the same summons to the management of PT Timor Putra Nasional with the address at Jalan Balai Pustaka Rawamangun, East Jakarta, and Ronny Hendrarto Ronowicaksono.

"(Agenda summons) Completing the right to collect state funds from BLBI funds based on the Determination of the Amount of State Receivables Number PJPN-375/PUPNC.10.05/2009 dated June 24, 2009 of at least Rp. 2.61 trillion," said the BLBI Task Force.

VOI then directly asked the Head of the BLBI Task Force, Rionald Silaban, about the summons of Tommy Suharto. However, until this news was revealed, Sri Mulyani's subordinates had not responded.

For some people who have experienced living in the New Order era, the name Tommy Soeharto was like a guarantee of business success at that time. He is considered as one of the strategic figures who can exert an important influence on business plans.

It is suspected that Tommy's expertise cannot be separated from the figure of his father who is the number one person in this country for more than 3 decades.

However, now Tommy has to deal with state officials related to debts which are allegedly related to his business activities in the past.

Based on the information gathered by the editors, the youngest of the second President of the Republic of Indonesia was recorded as the owner of Bank Pesona. The financial institution is said to have received a bailout from Bank Indonesia of Rp. 2.3 trillion.

The fund was intended as a bailout so that banks would have the ability to maintain cash flow during a wave of withdrawals by customers following the 1998 crisis.

Despite efforts to survive through an injection of central bank liquidity, Bank Pesona was finally decided to be included in the category of Frozen Bank for Business Activities (BBKU) on March 13, 1999. It was then liquidated on April 27, 2004 by the competent financial authorities in this country.

For information, BLBI is an assistance scheme (loan) provided by Bank Indonesia to banks experiencing liquidity problems during the 1998 monetary crisis in Indonesia.