Antam’s financial statement faces serious problem

State owned gold and nickel mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) is facing a serious problem with its annual 2003 financial report as the company has not included its obligation to pay Rp 600 billion pension contribution to employees’ pension fund in the financial statement, Koran Tempo newspaper reported in its Thursday edition.

A capital market source revealed to the Koran Tempo that Antam’s auditor Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) has refused to sign on the audit report as a result the statement is not finished yet.

“Pricewaterhouse Coopers has refused to sign on its audit report, if unrecorded liabilities of Rp 600 billion not mentioned in the statement,” the source said.

According to the above source, the problem emerged from a promise made by Antam’s management way back in 1997, when the company raised huge amount of money through selling its shares to the public. At that time, the management made a promise that it would arrange funds for the pension fund for its employees and former employees.

The bone of contention is that PWC says Rp 600 billion must be included as its liability, whereas Antam’s management insists its pension contribution will reach just Rp 40 billion.

Therefore, Antam must inform the public about this problem. Because if Rp 600 billion amount is included in the financial statement, the net profit and the capital of Antam will decrease drastically, the source said.

Antam company secretary Dohar Siregar has denied the problem when Koran Tempo asked him. But he said the company is still calculating the pension fund amount.

Two days ago, Antam said in a press release that the company’s obligation to pay pension fund was just Rp 44 billion. (*)