Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sherlock Holmes on Robert Tantular

Robert Tantular, former controlling owner of Bank Century, was grilled by the inquiry team established to investigate the scandal with hundreds of questions. Some of them are of the "Sherlock Holmes" quality. But others were simply unrelated to the team's effort to uncover the so-called "conspiracy" in the bailout of Bank Century.
Among the most interesting topic was about dividing Boedi Sampoerna's US$78 million deposit into 249 negotiable certificate of deposits (NCD) worth Rp2 billion each, registered under the names of Bank Century staffs. With this method, Boedi could recover his funds even though the bank would be closed down. Under the deposit insurance scheme, only accounts with Rp2 billion or less are protected.
Sherlock Holmes (SH) asked: Whose idea was that?
Robert Tantular (RT) answered: I met Boedi Sampoerna in Surabaya with Rudi Soraya. It was Rudi Soraya's idea to split the funds into Rp2 billion NCD.
SH: Who is Rudy Soraya?
RT: He is Sampoerna's staff. (Rudy Soraya is listed as independent commissioner of PT Intiland, a property company controlled by Gondokusumo family).
SH: Why someone proposed that?
RT: Because I informed Boedi Sampoerna that Century might be closed down.
SH: What you did then?
RT: Well, I can't reject, because he is a major depositor. We could only help them getting the identity of people to be "used" for the NCDs. So, most of the names for the NCDs are staffs of Boedi Sampoerna in Bali and Surabaya.
SH: Was there a plan from Boedi Sampoerna to withdraw his funds?
RT: In July 2008, Boedi Sampoerna expressed his intention to withdraw Rp1 trillion, because he needed money to finance his tobacco business. But in July 2008, we had liquidity problem already. Still, we disbursed his funds in monthly installments, Rp100 billion, Rp50 billion, etc. But in November 2008, we surrendered. We had no more money to pay him. I once offered Boedi to become shareholder in Century, but he rejected.
SH: So, other than splitting Sampoerna's deposit, you took away US$18 million from his account?
RT: I did that upon Sampoerna's approval. Besides it's a loan between me and Sampoerna. I promised to repay. So I don't understand why Mutiara (the new name of Century) has to pay Sampoerna US$18 million. It's my liabilities to Sampoerna.
SH: Do you have the loan agreement with Sampoerna?
RT: I had submitted the agreement to Sampoerna's office. But he never returned the signed agreement to me.
SH: Why would you assume Boedi Sampoerna approves the loan?
RT: Well, I once got Rp200 billion loan from Sampoerna with personal guarantee and some stocks as collateral. I repaid the facility.
SH: I heard that you meet with executives of some state-owned companies to put their funds in Century, accompanied by "influential people", powerful people or those from the military?
RT: I never did that.
"Sherlock Holmes" then decided to examine the board of directors of some state-owned companies to clarify the issue. Well, Sherhlock should reexamine Robert on the following questions:
1) What was Boedi Sampoerna's reaction when you tell him about the possibility of Century's closure? You said that he was so mad when learning the "liquidity" crisis at Century. What he said?
2) Did you ask his "help" to "talk" to Bank Indonesia or finance ministry or LPS?
3) Did he offered a help to make sure the bank won't be closed down?
Sherlock Holmes plans to examine the following persons:
1) Boedi Sampoerna
2) Rudy Soraya
3) Directors of state-owned enterprises which deposited substantial amount of money in Century.
4) People allegedly "used" by Robert as "brokers", including those close to the "inner circle".
5) Boedi Sampoerna's lawyer, adviser, consultant etc.
This article is taken from Yosefardi.com.

Labels:


READ MORE!!!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home