Former Bank BTN Chief Named Suspect, SOEs System Criticized
The image of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has again been tarnished after the Bank Tabungan Negara (Bank BTN) president director from 2012 to 2019, Maryono, was declared as a bribery suspect.
By
PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO/DIMAS WARADITYA NUGRAHA
·5 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The image of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has again been tarnished after the Bank Tabungan Negara (Bank BTN) president director from 2012 to 2019, Maryono, was declared as a bribery suspect. The alleged corruption at the state-owned bank points to a poor policymaking and appointment system at state-run corporations.
Senior researcher Enny Sri Hartati of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) said that she was not surprised by the alleged corruption at Bank BTN.
“A very high level of moral hazard prevails at early all SOEs because there is no system. Policymaking depends considerably on the CEO,” Enny said when contacted in Jakarta on Wednesday (7/10/2020).
Enny said that the problem was due to the absence of a meritocratic recruitment system for filling official positions. Moreover, recruitment at SOEs was steeped in political interests and lacked professionalism. In addition, the internal process of assuming authority or adopting policies at SOEs was surrounded by secrecy.
“Bribery is prevalent because the decision-making process lacks transparency,” she stressed.
Credit facilities
Investigators from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) named Maryono as a suspect of bribery and detained on Tuesday evening (6/10/2020). The head of the AGO Legal Information Center, Hari Setiyono, said that from 2013 to 2015, Maryono was alleged to have received gift money and gratuities through an account in the name of Widi Kusuma Purwanto, his son-in-law.
“The alleged receipt of gifts, promises, bribes or gratuities was related to granting credit facilities and disbursing loans from Bank BTN to PT Pelangi Putera Mandiri and PT Titanium Property,” Hari said on Tuesday evening, adding that the director of PPM, Yunan Anwar, knew Maryono and Widi.
On 9 Sept. 2014, Pelangi Putera Mandiri (PPM) obtained development loans from Bank BTN worth Rp 117 billion from the bank’s Samarinda branch to pay off the debts it owed to the East Kalimantan Regional Development Bank (BPD).
Prior to receiving the credit facility from Bank BTN Samarinda on 9 Sept. 2014, PPM had transferred funds totaling Rp 2.257 billion to Widi’s account. By the end of 2018, the credit facility had undergone debt restructuring on three separate occasions on 29 July 2016, on 18 Oct. 2017 and on 30 Nov. 2018. At present, the status of the credit facility is listed as stagnant.
As for Titanium Property (TP), the company obtained Rp 160 billion in credit facilities from Bank BTN’s Jakarta Harmoni branch on 31 Dec. 2013. According to an official copy of Credit Agreement No. 64 dated 31 Dec. 2013, the loan was use to finance the development of the Titanium Square apartment complex. In 2017, the credit facility was restructured on 30 Nov.
Hari said that Titanium Property made several suspicious financial transactions totaling Rp 870 million to Widi’s account.
This deviated from the bank’s standard operating procedure (SOP), but took place nonetheless.
Maryono was allegedly involved in the approval process to grant the credit facilities to the two companies. This deviated from the bank’s standard operating procedure (SOP), but took place nonetheless.
The investigators had gathered sufficient preliminary evidence to support the legal facts, and after questioning Maryono and Widi, they named the two as suspects in the case. In addition to Maryono, AGO investigators also named Yunan Anwar as a suspect in the same case.
Hari said that further investigation would be conducted into all parties involved in the credit facilities that were granted to PPM and Titanium Property. Investigators had not ruled out the possibility that more suspects could be uncovered in the case.
Respecting legal process
Bank BTN has indicated that it would respect the legal route the AGO was pursuing and its detention of Maryono.
“Bank BTN respects the legal process for settling the problem and will assist law enforcement personnel while stressing the presumption of innocence [principle],” said Bank BTN corporate secretary Ari Kurniaman.
According to Ari, Bank BTN granted the credit facility to PPM in 2014 and to Titanium Property in 2013. The coverage limit for the credits to both companies is still higher so that it remains safe in banking terms and bound by the right to security.
“Our performance will remain solid, and even more so because the loans to the two companies have substantial collateral, and sufficient reserves have been prepared so that the best service can still be offered to [the bank’s] customers, which always emphasizes good corporate governance in our operations,” he said.
The AGO investigation had even helped the bank in processing delinquent borrowers.
Ari said that Bank BTN had cooperated so far with the AGO investigation by processing delinquent debtors who had neglected their repayment obligations. The AGO investigation had even helped the bank in processing delinquent borrowers.
Ari pointed out that Bank BTN had made many improvements to the present, especially in its business processes, and had been granted the SNI ISO 37001:2016 certificate for commercial lending and procurement.
The ISO 37001:2016 is an international certification that regulates the standards of an anti-bribery management system. That Bank BTN had been certified ISO 37001:2016 affirms the bank’s commitment to implementing Law No. 28/1999 on state administrators that are clean and free of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), which regulates clean governance.
“The SNI ISO 37001:2016 certificate is very significant to Bank BTN in carrying out our corporate transformation to reach our target of becoming ‘The Best Mortgage Bank in Southeast Asia’ by 2025,” Ari added.