0 Gita Denies Claim of Land Holding, Distancing Himself From Bank Century Bailout Scandal

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan insisted on Thursday that he does not own — directly or indirectly — a controversial plot of land that has been taken over by an affiliate of a company that he founded. Gita’a name surfaced in the infamous Bank Century scandal but he has since been cleared by police. Gita, who started Ancora Capital, said that people were making false allegations against him, claiming that he owns a 21-hectare plot of land in South Jakarta. The same people allege that Graha Nusa Utama, of which Ancora now has shares, had received Bank Century bailout money to buy the plot of land that is located behind the Fatmawati general hospital. 

“I am not an owner here, but [the land] was taken over by one of Ancora’s affiliates in the name of one of the professionals in Ancora,” Gita said. The trade minister was referring to a land plot that was bought by GNU from Yayasan Fatmawati in 2003. He pointed out that the land was purchased by GNU “long before the Bank Century bailout,” which took place in 2008. Gita also said that Ancora began purchasing GNU shares in 2008. The transaction was only made official in October 2010, with Ancora taking a 51 percent stake in GNU. He said that up until the transaction was conducted, GNU’s ownership of the land in question was legal. 

He also said that Ancora’s official stake in GNU dates back to 2010, long after the Bank Century case had made the headlines. However, he said that in 2010, a group of entrepreneurs got Yayasan Fatmawati to issue a duplicate copy of the land title for the same plot of land, which he said was worth about Rp 2 trillion ($207 million) based on a tax sales price estimate of between Rp 8 million and Rp 11 million per square meter. The minister believes that the allegation that he owned the land, and also that GNU had used laundered money from Century to buy the land, were ploys to delegitimize the current owners of the land. 

He also pointed out that the police have cleared him of any links to the land and any implication of him being a beneficiary of money from Bank Century. The National Police said last month that Gita was cleared in the Rp 6.7 trillion Bank Century bailout scandal, announcing that the minister’s company did not receive bailout money from the bank. Brig. Gen. Arief Sulistyanto, the National Police’s head of the special crimes division, said that Ancora Land, which belongs to Gita, actually disbursed money. “We can say that Pak Gita is one of the victims in the case,” Arief said. 

Gita’s name surfaced in the scandal after several lawmakers questioned Ancora Land’s motive in acquiring 55 percent ownership of GNU. Police said that the company was connected to the Bank Century scandal because its owner, Totok Kuncoro, was a business partner of Robert Tantular. Both were tried and sentenced. Totok was sentenced to eight years in prison while Robert got nine years for stealing bailout money and consumers’ savings, and laundering them in several businesses. Arief also said that the police had no plan to summon Gita as a witness, let alone as a suspect. 

The Century case has again grabbed the national spotlight once again recently as the House of Representatives prepares to initiate a legislative maneuver that could pave the way for impeachment proceedings against Vice President Boediono, a previous Bank Indonesia governor.

source : the jakarta globe