0 Cyprus to decide on new plan aimed at securing bailout

Cypriot leaders are to decide on Thursday on a newly drawn up plan aimed at securing a bailout for the near-bankrupt eurozone member, after parliament rejected a controversial tax on savings. President Nicos Anastasiades is to "present a Plan B package to party leaders tomorrow at the presidential palace," state television reported Wednesday, after he chaired an emergency cabinet meeting called to weigh the alternative plan. "A decision on a Cyprus rescue must be made on Thursday at the latest," the official CNA news agency quoted Anastasiades as saying as he left the palace on Wednesday night. 

The proposals, which might still include the controversial bank levy in some form, were put forward at the cabinet meeting called to end a crisis that has forced the authorities to shut the Mediterranean island's banks for 10 straight days. Unnamed government sources quoted by CNA said the rescue plan included the creation of a "structural investment fund, which will be reinforced by various provident funds, real estate," and other sources. "The fund will also be linked with a bond issue and natural gas prospects," the agency said. 

The measures were hastily drawn up after Finance Minister Michalis Sarris failed to make any progress in Moscow talks to secure aid as a rough-bargaining Russia sought lucrative assets in exchange for more help. The finance ministry said banks, which last opened their doors on Friday, would remain closed again on Thursday and Friday "on grounds of public interest in order to ensure financial stability". With Monday a scheduled public holiday, there is no prospect of any banking transactions before Tuesday, amid fears of a run on accounts by spooked deposit holders. 

That has dealt another blow to Cyprus's debt-laded economy, which contracted 2.3 percent in 2012, having taken a battering from the global financial crisis and its exposure to Greece. "We cannot buy, we cannot sell," lamented Costakis Sophoclides, the director of a frozen goods company in Nicosia. "A lot of my customers are hotels and restaurants... and we cannot supply them... I have 25 employees now but next week I will have no products in my stores. What will happen?" The authorities spent Wednesday in talks after MPs the previous day rejected a measure that would have slapped an unprecedented one-time levy of up to 9.9 percent on bank deposits as a condition for a 10-billion-euro ($13-billion) loan. 

The troika of lenders -- European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- agreed the bailout on Saturday on condition Cyprus raised another 5.8 billion euros. Brazil's IMF representative on Wednesday criticised the bank deposit tax plan. Paulo Nogueira Batista, who represents Brazil and 10 other Latin American countries on the IMF executive board, said the move took him by surprise and called it "highly problematic." Thursday was "expected to be a difficult day," said the CNA, which quoted government sources as saying Anastasiades would submit the rescue plan to party leaders at 0730 GMT and put it to the parliament in the afternoon. 

While money is still available from ATM cashpoints, dwindling liquidity has seen petrol stations close their credit card facilities and many stores refuse cheques. The head of the powerful Orthodox Church, the largest landowner in Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, offered to help by putting church assets at the government's disposal. Following the parliamentary "No" vote, in which ruling party MPs abstained, Cyprus turned to Russia, with Anastasiades sending Sarris to Moscow to seek new assistance and an easing of the terms of a 2.5-billion-euro loan which Moscow afforded Nicosia in 2011. 

Russians have $31 billion in private and corporate cash deposited in Cypriot banks. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the bailout had been bungled and that the solution should not damage Moscow's relations with the EU. "I hope that in the end the solution adopted will be as thought through as possible and will at the same time aid Cyprus and not harm our relations with the EU," he said. Sarris, meanwhile, was upbeat after meeting his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov before talks with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov about a possible new loan, describing it as a "very good beginning". 

Reports said the Moscow talks would continue on Thursday. Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said that, so far, "we are not seeing a major risk to the US financial system or the US economy" from the crisis in Cyprus. But he added: "I don't think the impact has been enormous" on markets overall, pointing to the rebound Wednesday in European trade. Although no solution was yet clear in the Cyprus drama, the extension of the closure of the island country's banks while talks continued appeared to calm markets. The euro rebounded modestly in early trading on Asian markets Wednesday after earlier sharp losses caused by the Cyprus bailout. At 2100 GMT, the euro traded at $1.2937, up from $1.2881 late Tuesday.

AFP
source : the jakarta globe

0 Australian PM calls leadership ballot

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard caved in to building pressure and called a leadership ballot of parliamentarians in her Labor party for later Thursday. "I have determined that there will be a ballot for the leadership at 4.30pm (0530 GMT) today. In the meantime, take your best shot," she said in parliament, adding that the vote would also be for the deputy leadership. 

Her decision followed senior cabinet minister Simon Crean openly calling for a ballot, with leadership speculation rampant as Gillard lags badly in opinion polls just six months out from national elections.Crean said the speculation was "killing" the party as former leader Kevin Rudd waits in the wings and his backers campaign behind the scenes. "He has got no option but to run," Crean said of Rudd. "We have to get on with the message and it has to become an inclusive party." Rudd was brutally ousted by Gillard in mid 2010 and lost a 2012 leadership challenge 71-31.

AFP
source : the jakarta globe

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

0 House Sacks Rogue PKB Lawmakers

Despite the threat of civil and criminal lawsuits, the House of Representatives on Wednesday inaugurated two new members of the National Awakening Party, replacing a pair of maverick lawmakers who have vowed to fight their dismissals. Lily Wahid and Effendy Choirie were sacked by the party known as PKB after refusing to support its position on the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion ($690 million) bailout of Indonesia’s Bank Century in 2008. 

Contrary to the party’s stance, the pair argued in a House debate that the emergency funding package was illegal. Following their dismissal, the PKB then petitioned for the pair to be permanently ousted from the House, a move President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono approved last week. On Wednesday, the House secretary general officially replaced Lily and Effendy with Jazilul Fawaid and Andi Muawiyah Ramli. 

“I have an obligation to inaugurate [Jazilul and Andi], and although there is a motion to stop the inauguration, I can’t delay it,” House speaker Marzuki Alie said after the swearing-in ceremony. Effendy has said that he would file a civil lawsuit against Yudhoyono and Marzuki if they proceeded with the dismissal. Leader of the PKB’s faction in the House, Marwan Jafar, applauded the decision to press ahead with the pair’s dismissal despite the threat of legal action. 

Lily and Effendy “have not only been disobedient, they have both harmed the PKB with their behavior,” he said. Marwan added the party would still welcome the pair back if they apologized. But PKB secretary general Imam Nahrowi said that the likelihood of that happening was remote. “It has been a long time since Lily and Effendy talked to party officials,” he said. “They don’t feel the need to communicate with us and we have nothing to say to them.”

source : the jakarta globe

0 YouTube Passes Billion User Mark

More than a billion people use YouTube each month, it says, with viewing on smartphones helping drive growth. In a blog post, the YouTube team noted that nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits the website, which has grown into a global hit since launching in 2005. "If YouTube were a country, we'd be the third largest in the world after China and India," the team said. "PSY and Madonna would have to repeat their Madison Square Garden performance in front of a packed house 200,000 more times. 

That's a lot of Gangnam Style," it added referring to the South Korean rapper and American pop singer. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion and has yet to disclose whether the service has turned a profit. YouTube has gradually added professional content, such as full-length television shows and movies to its vast trove of amateur video offerings in a bid to attract advertisers. YouTube confirmed early this year that its evolution as an Internet stage for video may include subscriptions to content that creators expect people would pay to watch. 

"We have long maintained that different content requires different types of payment models," a YouTube spokesman told AFP. "There are a lot of our content creators that think they would benefit from subscriptions, so we're looking at that." YouTube's layout showcasing television-style channels sets the stage for film or television studios to create pay channels on the service. The video-sharing service says it is trying to "marry the best of TV and the best of online."

Agence France-Presse
source : the jakarta globe