Indonesian Tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim Does Not Deserve Release and Discharge Letter

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Kwik Kian Gie, the State Minister for National Development Planning and concurrently Head of the National Development Planning (Bappneas) has stated that the governments decision to grant a release and discharge letter to Sjamsul Nursalim, head of the Gajah Tunggal business group, was improper. Nursalim still owes huge amounts of money to the state, said Kwik at the Bappenas building, Jakarta, on Wednesday (28/1). From a legal point of view, according to Kwik, any debtor who is considered to be cooperative has the right to be granted the release and discharge letter. However, he went on to say that the term cooperative must be defined clearly. Can we still consider a debtor to be cooperative if he only returns 15 percent of his debts? asked Kwik. As reported earlier, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency is to give Nursalim a release and discharge letter. Nursalim owed the state Rp28.4 trillion and in a debt settlement agreement signed on September 21, 1998, he agreed to hand over assets worth to Rp27.4 trillion and Rp1 trillion in cash.Up to now, Nursalim still owes around Rp80 billion to the state. Yandi M. Rofiandi - Tempo News Room