Ex-manpower officials could face up to 6 years for graft

Ex-manpower officials could face up to 6 years for graft

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors demanded up to six years in prison for two former officials of the ministry of manpower and transmigration charged with the embezzlement of foreign migrant workforce audit funds.

Former director general for education and inspections, Marudin Saur Marulita Simanihuruk, could face six years in prison if convicted, while the former head of the ministry's evaluation and report subdivision, Suseno Tjipto Mantora, could face four years.

Prosecutors have charged the two men with embezzling Rp 6.199 billion (US$673,804) of the Rp 7.817 billion allocated to audit the foreign migrant workforce through 46 of the ministry's regional offices and a unit at the ministry in 2004 and 2005.

Prosecutor Moch. Rum said Tuesday that Marudin and Suseno were being charged under articles of the 1999 law on corruption, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and fines of between Rp 200 million and Rp 1 billion for the misappropriation of state funds.

He demanded the Anti-Corruption Court fine Marudin Rp 350 million and Suseno Rp 200 million.

"Marudin must also return Rp 5.8 billion to the state," Rum said, adding that Marudin's assets could be confiscated to cover the losses.

He said the two men were also guilty of failing to hold a tender, as required by law, instead directly appointing the Johan Barus audit agency to carry out the project.

"They should have organized a tender to choose a more competent agency," Rum said.

Marudi said after the court session that the sentence demand was too harsh.

He then reiterated his claim of innocence.

"The appointment letter (for Johan Barus) was officially approved by then minister Fahmi Idris. I did not formulate it myself," he said.

"I only carried out what was written in the letter about appointing Johan Barus' audit agency.

"So, how can they declare me guilty of corruption?"

Fahmi Idris testified two weeks ago to the effect that he did not know about the embezzled money or its distribution among state officials.

Fahmi, who is now the minister of industry, defended the decision to directly appoint Johan Barus, saying there had not been enough time to conduct a tender for the audit project ordered by the President.

The court will reconvene next Tuesday to hear the defense statements of the two defendants. (ewd
source : thejakartapost.com

Bear deal goes under the microscope

Regulators and top execs defend extraordinary deal, but lawmakers questioned whether Bear Stearns had to fail.

Nearly 3 months after becoming CEO, Bear Stearns' Alan Schwartz watched his 85-year-old firm almost collapse.

More on Bear Stearns

Key Bear deal players speak out

Regulators and Wall Street executives defend JPMorgan's acquisition of Bear Stearns - tell lawmakers that deal prevented a collapse that could have damaged the economy.more

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers if a Bear Stearns rescue had failed, the results could have been 'disastrous.'

Wall Street asks about value

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate took a long, hard look at JPMorgan Chase's planned purchase of Bear Stearns on Thursday, grilling both executives and federal regulators who helped shepherd the controversial deal.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee, digging into the terms of the extraordinary tie-up at a five-hour hearing, pulled back the curtain on a merger that many critics have argued amounts to a bailout of Wall Street.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, making his second straight appearance before lawmakers this week, was among those who defended the 11th-hour deal. Bernanke argued that preventing the collapse of Bear Stearns, the nation's fifth largest investment bank, staved off a run on other investment banks, damage to the broader American financial system and the U.S. economy.

"The truth is that the benefactors of our actions were not Bear Stearns or principally Wall Street - it is Main Street," said the central bank chief.

Those remarks were echoed by other witnesses, including Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of the chief architects of the deal, and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500) CEO Alan Schwartz.

"One thing I can say with confidence: if the private and public parties before you today had not acted in a remarkable collaboration to prevent the fall of Bear Stearns, we would all be facing a far more dire set of challenges," JPMorgan's Dimon said.

Thursday's hearing marked the first time the two Wall Street execs have spoken publicly on the merger since the deal was announced on March 16.

At the time, JPMorgan agreed to buy Bear Stearns for $236 million, or only $2 a share. A little over a week later, JPMorgan raised its bid for the investment bank to $10 a share amid anger from both shareholders and employees over the deal.

To pull off the purchase, however, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed to take control of $30 billion of Bear Stearns' assets. As a result, JPMorgan will now bear the risk of the first $1 billion in losses were Bear Stearns assets to go bad. The New York Fed would cover the remaining $29 billion.

The Fed's unusual maneuver drew the scrutiny of lawmakers, who questioned the central bank's decision to put public funds at risk by essentially agreeing to back Bear Stearns' portfolio, which included those same mortgage-backed securities that have plummeted in value since the housing market took a nosedive.

"We've heard other financial institutions say that they, in fact, can't truly verify the full value of their securities," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. "So, if we don't have a valuation of these securities, how are we so confident?"

$2 a share and the discount window

Thursday's hearing provided a glimpse into how the deal came about after Bear Stearns revealed to the SEC, the Fed and JPMorgan that it was facing severe liquidity issues.

At the time, Bear Stearns' Schwartz was facing an exodus of both customers and business partners following rampant speculation that its underlying health was in jeopardy.

Schwartz suggested to lawmakers that the speculation could have been an organized effort to manipulate the market.

"I would just say as an observer of the market, it looked like more than fears - there were people that wanted to induce a panic," Schwartz said.

Despite securing a short-term loan from JPMorgan on Friday, March 14, the company's liquidity position continued to weaken. By the end of the day, Schwartz said the company faced two choices: finding a buyer or face the possibility of filing for bankruptcy the following Monday.

Even though Bear Stearns attempted to court other partners, only JPMorgan was willing to commit, according to Schwartz.

One question that occupied lawmakers' attention was how the initial $2 asking price for Bear Stearns was reached and if regulators were involved in determining that price.

"We did not set or negotiate the price," said New York Fed President Geithner.

Geithner said the agreement was guided by twin principles: averting default by Bear Stearns but at the same time not sending the message that the government would bail out other firms when their business goes bad.

JPMorgan's Dimon added that the price also took into account the risk that it was taking by purchasing Bear Stearns on such short notice.

"We literally had 48 hours to do what normally takes a month," said Dimon.

Still, lawmakers wondered whether Bear Stearns could have been saved. After JPMorgan announced plans to acquire Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve took the drastic move of opening its discount window to investment banks and brokerages to calm jittery markets about liquidity.

Some experts have suggested that the Fed could have opened the discount window when fears first emerged about the health of Bear Stearns.

"It was not at all obvious to me it would have been sufficient to prevent their bankruptcy," said Fed chief Bernanke.

Bear Stearns' Schwartz disagreed.

"It is highly, highly unlikely we'd be in situation we found ourselves in today," he said.

Congress wants answers

The unorthodox rescue of Bear Stearns by the Fed has been a hot topic on Capitol Hill.

On Wednesday, members of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress grilled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the Fed's role in engineering a deal between the two firms.

At the same time, the top two lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee - Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Max Baucus, D-Mont. - have also been pushing for further details on the controversial deal.

On Wednesday, the pair sent a letter to Schwartz and Dimon requesting details about any compensation or severance arrangements as part of the merger. In addition, the two lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday why the regulator sought no enforcement action against Bear Stearns for improperly valuing its mortgage-related investments.

There has been plenty of talk this week that the U.S. financial system requires a drastic overhaul to prevent such a crisis from happening again.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined a blueprint for changes on Monday that would combine a handful of federal regulators and provide greater power to the Federal Reserve.

While Thursday's hearing provided few answers about what actions should be taken, both witnesses and lawmakers urged change.

"If we continue to react to situation after they happen, where are we going to be?" asked Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the ranking GOP member of the committee

Source:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/03/news/companies/jpm_bear_hearing/index.htm?postversion=2008040320

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Bye-Laws Committee Members noticed need to effectively improve communications

Bye-Laws Committee Members noticed need to effectively improve communications



“We continuously support efforts made by the Bye-Laws and Regulations Committee in formulating regulations and providing mutual guidance in order for banks to be well-run and efficient” commented Budi Rochadi, Deputy Governor of the Payment System during his opening remarks at the evening get-together for the Bye-Laws and Regulations Committee.



The event was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Bandung on 10th May 2007. It represents one of the routine activities undertaken to establish cooperation among all Bye-Law officials. It is hoped that such occasions facilitate communications between members to therefore reach consensus at every meeting or discussion more effectively.



Bank Indonesia is fully aware that operationally the payment system does not completely adhere to Bank Indonesia’s regulations. As a result, the combined ideas and perceptions of each committee member are considered in the institution of mutual regulations to help facilitate the payment system.



Closer cooperation between all stakeholders should create more effective informal communications. In addition, this is hoped will support a higher quality, more effective and efficient payment system to meet market needs and raise industry efficiency. Closing his remarks, Budi Rochadi expressed hope that all stakeholders and committee members can maintain and improve their motivation and strengthen their cooperation.

http://www.bi.go.id/web/en/SP001/Info01/DASP01/Info_SP14.htm

BI Publishhe E-money

BI Publishes E-Money Development Study
The soaring popularity of non-cash payment instruments such as prepaid cards, commonly referred to as electronic money (e-money), has led Bank Indonesia (BI), the national payment system operator, to take various actions in anticipation of this trend. One move has been to launch the 2006 initiative on the less cash society, which resulted in the production of several working papers.

The goal of this initiative is to promote the creation of a secure, efficient and reliable e-money instrument for the public. A further objective is the building of a more efficient national economy. E-money is envisaged as filling an important gap in the existing array of non-cash payment instruments, ranging from low value/retail instruments such as cheques, bilyet giro, credit cards and so on to high value instruments such as transactions generated by the interbank money market and processed through the BI-Real Time Gross Settlement system (BI-RTGS).

BI sees e-money as a highly suitable instrument for micropayments involving small, but very frequent transactions. In publishing the study of this initiative, BI also invites responses and suggestions for improvements to a paper on the issue and/or amendment of regulations governing e-money.

Public comment is also invited for other working papers produced during the “less cash society" initiative of 2006.

Statement of The Governor of Bank Indonesia Regarding The Declaration Of Governor As Suspect In Case of Gratification to Legislative Members

Statement of The Governor of Bank Indonesia Regarding The Declaration Of Governor As Suspect In Case of Gratification to Legislative Members
1. In related to my status as a suspect in the case of misappropriation of BI fund declared by KPK (The Corruption Eradication Commission), personally as a human being as well as someone trusted for public mandate, I was shocked, distressed and sad for the news currently circulated in the public. However, I cannot get carried away with my own emotion because I have to use my logical thinking in order to prove afterwards that I am not guilty.

2. Therefore, in respect of the ongoing legal process and in order to facilitate all those processes I will appoint a lawyer.

3. As the Governor of Bank Indonesia, I will always perform my duties in good faith and carry out I my best work for the interest of this state and nation.

4. In facing the prevailing situation, I have requisite all officials of Bank Indonesia to keep working professionally, especially related to the efforts of maintaining national macroeconomic stability from the impact of global economy and to keep providing the best services to the public. It is expected that the ongoing legal process will not interfere the performance of Bank Indonesia’s performance nor influence local and foreign assurance.

note :http://www.bi.go.id/web/en/Info+Terbaru/Humas/info_GBI+statement_eng_040208.htm

How to Make jobs

Something big and new is happening to American thinking about taxes. This week the Committee for Economic Development launched an assault on the U.S. tax structure. In a 47-page brochure (expertly written by the Book-of-the-Month Club's Harry Scherman), the C.E.D. attempted to put a new face on the U.S. tax system, with full postwar employment as the criterion.
Only seven weeks ago C.E.D.'s tax proposals might have hit like a bolt from the blue. For the plan asserts that the Federal Government must rely mainly on individual—not corporate—income taxes for the minimum $16 to $18 billion of revenue needed in the first peacetime year. But Economist Beardsley Ruml had scooped C.E.D.—the Falstaffian treasurer of R. H. Macy & Co. had bluntly said it first in July (TIME, Aug. 7). Ruml had also stated that high corporate taxes were more harmful to employment than high individual levies. But C.E.D. did not care that a little bloom was off its peach.
C.E.D.'s major recommendations:
¶ The personal income tax should provide at least half of total federal collections. But peacetime rates must be lower than 1944 rates.
¶ Double taxation of dividend income should be eliminated, by making the corporate income tax a withholding tax on dividends; and by subjecting dividend income to surtaxes only when in stockholders' hands.
¶ Income from all future security issues of state and local governments should be made fully taxable.
¶ All federal excise taxes (except liquor, tobacco and gasoline) should be abolished.
¶ Corporate income-tax rates (currently 40% normal) should be cut to the same rate as the proposed standard tax on in dividual incomes (16 to 20%).
¶ Business should be allowed to carry forward losses from operations to apply against earnings for a six-year period.
To support its recommendations, the C.E.D. plan goes into more detail than did Ruml in condemning the high corporate levy as harmful to employment.
The present tax, says C.E.D. , stunts the growth of a small company. Reaching into the stream of business operations, the tax grabs vital funds where & when they would be most likely to create more jobs, increase wages, or reduce the price of goods manufactured. This does not mean that corporate earnings remaining after payment of the proposed normal 16 or 20% tax would go taxfree. Paid out as dividends to individuals, such sums would be taxed in shareholders' hands.
Excise Taxes are attacked also from the viewpoint of their effect on volume of business and therefore on jobs. The very nature of excise taxes, the C.E.D. points out, imposes them principally on those goods and services most widely in demand.
As a result, prices of these goods and services are raised. Higher prices then reduce purchasing power. C.E.D. estimates that its proposed changes in excise levies would add $3 billion to consumer purchasing power.

How get Job

Get a job? No, make a job
How can we prepare our children for today’s economy? Teach them workplace skills. Teach them entrepreneurship.
By Laura Vanderkam
Michael Simmons, 25, always liked the idea of working for himself. At age 16, he started a Web development company that blossomed as dot-coms proliferated. But then the bubble burst, and many of his clients imploded. Faced with new challenges, Simmons decided he had a lot to learn about running a business.
Still a teen, he won a scholarship to an online class offered by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). He learned how to use spreadsheets, make PowerPoint presentations, speak publicly about his business and find mentors to help his business grow.
(Illustration by Keith Simmons, USA TODAY)
"It helped me get an understanding of what the real world was like," he says. And it helped him launch Extreme Entrepreneurship Education, a business that conducts workshops on the nitty-gritty of self-employment for high school and college students.
As Simmons and his protégés have learned, not all successful entrepreneurs are born that way. Like anything, entrepreneurship can be learned. Unfortunately, it's rarely taught. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which turned 5 last month, pledged to make sure kids learned the reading and math skills the modern economy requires. But those aren't the only skills modern students need.
More and more Americans are becoming self-employed, both for the lifestyle and out of necessity. Yet fewer schools teach entrepreneurship skills than teach kids to be excellent readers and mathematicians. But this is starting to change — and that bodes as well for the economy as do the increases in reading and math skills NCLB is starting to inspire.
From its Manhattan headquarters, NFTE has been quietly spreading the self-employment revolution in schools since 1987. Founder Steve Mariotti ran his own import-export company until he was mugged by some young thugs in the early 1980s. Shaken, he decided to become a teacher to confront his fears. He soon realized most of his Bronx and Brooklyn charges had great potential.
Boredom in the classroom
"The biggest problem in education in certain communities is that kids are bored," he says. (A 2006 Gates Foundation survey found that more than six out of 10 high school dropouts were earning a C average or better when they quit.) Mariotti's students showed sharpened interest when he discussed running a business. So over the years, he developed a curriculum that challenged students to try entrepreneurship themselves.
NFTE has since trained 4,100 teachers, and its programs have been adopted in 600 mostly low-income schools. The organization also runs online courses such as the one Simmons took.
More than 150,000 students have written business plans, learned how to open bank accounts and tracked income per unit of product or service sold. Research from Harvard and Brandeis universities finds that NFTE students are not only likely to consider entrepreneurship as a path out of poverty, but they also grow academically. Writing business plans is a sneaky way to make kids think about grammar.
Calculating profits has kids learning math. Harvard research found that NFTE kids show a 32% increase in interest in attending college vs. a decrease over the same time frame among comparable low-income student groups. "This is the biggest breakthrough in at-risk youth education in the last 100 years," Mariotti says.
But it's not just at-risk kids who need to learn about entrepreneurship.
Micro-businesses
The vast majority of U.S. businesses have fewer than four employees. Young people are even more interested in starting these micro-businesses than are adults; a 2006 Junior Achievement survey found that 71% of middle and high school students would like to be self-employed at some point, up from 64% in 2004.
Technology makes this increasingly possible. For a few bucks a month, anyone can create a website that advertises a product or service to the planet's 1 billion Internet users. That's the pull factor.
There's also a push. Few people can count on lifetime employment in a big company. So corporate types moonlight or move around within their companies to stay marketable, notes Marci Alboher, author of the upcoming One Person/Multiple Careers:A New Model for Work/Life Success. "The idea that everyone has their one little spot on the line is gone," she says. "We all have to be entrepreneurial," which she defines as constantly learning new skills.
If the point of school is, in part, to prepare you for life after school, then more kids need to learn how to pick up new skill sets, judge markets, find their competitive advantages and make their cash registers ring. NFTE schools recognize this, and so do many colleges; 2,100 colleges and universities teach entrepreneurship, BusinessWeek reports, up from fewer than 400 in the early '90s.
This growing population of trained free agents will benefit the whole economy. A study by technology consultant Allan Engelhardt found that when you triple the number of employees in an organization, you halve each one's productivity. The corollary is that in general, more small businesses mean greater productivity. Greater productivity per worker translates into higher living standards, just as better reading and math skills usually do.
Entrepreneurship education programs recognize that, just as you can learn to read, you can learn to run a business. Michael Simmons has taken that lesson to heart. He and his Extreme Entrepreneurship Education partner (and wife) Sheena Lindahl were just named to BusinessWeek's Best Entrepreneurs under 25 List.
They're building a business while doing what they love. That's certainly a message worth teaching.
Laura Vanderkam, author of Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues, is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.
Posted at 12:16 AM/ET, February 06, 2007 in Business issues - Forum, Education - Forum, Forum commentary, Pay/Income issues - Forum, Vanderkam Permalink
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