No Wonder Sri Mulyani Is Furious, The Government Still Bails Out Rp110,454 Trillion Of BLBI Fraudulent Debt To Bank Indonesia

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that the government is still providing Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds to the central bank in the amount of Rp. 110.454 trillion, which was disbursed to obligors and debtors during the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

"To this day, 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 during a virtual press conference with the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD. inauguration of the BLBI Task Force in Jakarta, Friday, June 4.

According to the Minister of Finance, in this case, the state has the right to collect BLBI debtors and obligors.

“These obligors are those who own banks and receive BLBI funds. Meanwhile, debtors are those who borrow from banks that are assisted by the state," he said.

On this basis, the Minister of Finance then formed a separate scheme to expedite collection efforts for evaders of state funds who have not fulfilled their obligations until now.

"We will collect through the state receivables mechanism and that is a civil matter," he said.

The Minister of Finance also ensured that his party along with the ranks of related ministries and institutions would take hard efforts considering that this case had been delayed for decades.

"And because the time has been very long, so now it's been more than 20 years, of course we no longer question our good intentions or not, we just have to pay or not," he said.

The former boss of the World Bank and IMF also explained that he had built coordination with a number of strategic agencies, such as 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.

“All have very strategic authority. I thank all agencies that continue to help in obtaining state collection rights," concluded the Minister of Finance.