0 Gita Denies Profiting From Bank Century

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan denied on Wednesday that he still held shares in Ancora Land, a company with connections to the now-defunct Bank Century. Summoned to appear before the House of Representatives’ special committee into the bank’s controversial 2008 bailout, Gita said that he had delegated his ownership and management of the Ancora Group to others since joining the government and becoming a minister. 

Gita’s name has been linked to the infamous Bank Century scandal before, but he was cleared of any wrongdoing by police. The trade minister, who started Ancora Capital, said that people were making false allegations against him, including that he owns a 21-hectare plot of land in South Jakarta. The same people claim that Graha Nusa Utama, in which Ancora now has shares, received Bank Century bailout money to buy the land located behind the Fatmawati general hospital. 

“With regards to the recent news reports about PT Ancora Land, I no longer have ownership [in the company] both directly and indirectly,” Gita told lawmakers. “I came to this meeting because I’m willing to answer several questions and to straighten out comments that need to be clarified with regards to PT Ancora Land’s involvement [in the Bank Century bailout case].” Gita found himself in hot water after Hendrawan Pratikno, a Bank Century committee member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), implied that the trade minister received bailout funds when Ancora Land bought 55 percent of GNU’s shares. “Ancora Land is owned by Gita Wirjawan. 

The question is, why did he acquire a company which was not doing well? The company was used only to launder money,” Hendrawan said recently. University of Gadjah Mada criminal law professor Eddy O.S. Hiariej said the finger-pointing lawmakers did not understand Ancora’s company maneuvers properly. When Ancora agreed to acquire GNU’s shares in 2008, Eddy said the latter was not in legal trouble. “When the acquisition of shares took place, PT GNU’s only asset was that plot of land in Fatmawati,” he said. 

“There were no other assets.” Eddy said even if GNU had wealth stemming from banking crimes and money laundering committed by Bank Century owner Robert Tantular or GNU’s president director Toto Kunjoro, Ancora Land would have been misled according to criminal law. In January, Gita said that the 21-hectare plot was taken over by one of Ancora’s affiliates after GNU brought it from Yayasan Fatmawati in 2003. He stressed the land was purchased by GNU “long before the Bank Century bailout,” which took place five years later. 

Gita also said that Ancora began purchasing GNU shares in 2008, but the transaction was only made official in October 2010, long after the bailout case had made headlines. He said that up until the time the transaction was completed, GNU’s ownership of the land in question was legal. The National Police in December cleared Gita of involvement in the Rp 6.7 trillion Bank Century bailout scandal, announcing that the minister’s company did not receive funds from the troubled bank.

source : the jakarta globe