Govt to Collect Freeport Dividend after Eid

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government continues to try to collect the interim dividend from PT Freeport Indonesia for the fiscal year 2014. Imam A. Putro, secretary of the State Owned Enterprises Ministry, said the government will find the time after the Eid holiday. "If we ask them before the Eid, they might think we are asking for a holiday allowance," he said at the end of last week.

Imam reiterated that the government is not currently in a position to charge, since the decision about dividend payout depends on Freeport's shareholders meeting. The government only has 9.36 percent stake in the gold and copper miner, with the remaining 90.64 percent held by its US parent Freeport-McMorran. "The only thing we can do is continue asking," Imam said.

In a meeting with the government in June, Imam said, Freeport's management was still reluctant to distribute dividends, saying it might cause financial difficulties to the company. If the company pays its dividend to the government, it also must pay dividends to all shareholders. "They cannot just pay the government the Rp1.5 trillion dividends. They might have to pay a total of Rp15 trillion," he said.

Freeport Indonesia president director Rozik B Soetjipto said the company is ready to meet the government to discuss the 2014 interim dividend. However, he did not say that the company is ready to pay the dividend.

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