Get to know the SOE Pension Fund Scheme Called Troubled Erick Thohir

Jakarta, Armfalcon.com —

Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir expressed by 65 percent pension fund problematic state-owned companies. Only 35 percent are able to manage their retirement money well.

Therefore, Erick is intensely coordinating with the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in investigating cases of alleged corruption in BUMN pension funds, including the cases of PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero) and PT Asabri (Persero).

“Yesterday, I warning, after Jiwasraya, Asabri, now we are pushing for audit investigations for state-owned pension funds which I saw yesterday’s book were 35 percent healthy and 65 percent sick. We have to anticipate because this number can be quite large,” said Erick some time ago.

Using the PPMP scheme by special management in each BUMN

The management of the BUMN pension fund itself is handled by a special management body in each company. The pension fund scheme uses a Defined Benefit Pension Program (PPMP).

PPMP is a program where the size of the pension benefit is based on the formula set at the beginning. Based on the records of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the pension benefit formula is generally associated with years of service.

The risk of developing PPMP funds is generally borne entirely by the employer. However, fund managers can establish pension plan schemes that allow employers and participants to share the risks.

Loopholes and modes of corruption in management that are not transparent

Regarding the management of pension funds, in the future Erick had a discourse to consolidate several state-owned pension funds.

Erick is also worried about the time bomb from managing the state-owned company’s pension fund, which was recorded at minus IDR 9.8 trillion as of 2021. He considered that if the state-owned pension funds were not intervened, then an explosion of big problems could occur.

“This will explode one or two years from now if there is no intervention today,” he said.

So far, he continued, BUMN pension funds are managed solely by the management of related state-owned companies. Impact, if there is a problem, not detected.

According to Erick, the modus operandi of money corruption is often carried out by pension fund management institutions of state-owned companies. One of them, deliberately eliminating assets.

He mentioned that of the several pension fund institutions that committed corruption, two of them were Asabri and Jiwasraya. Therefore, he hopes that in the future BUMN directors will only inherit kindness, not problems like the two pension funds.

Erick said that currently his party is increasing cooperation with various government agencies to glare at BUMN directors. If someone is found to be corrupt, they will be subject to sanctions.

Managed by retirees, not experts

Meanwhile, BUMN Deputy Minister I Pahala Nugraha Mansury revealed that 65 percent of pension funds are in trouble because they are managed by retirees. He said the management of pension funds should be carried out by experts who understand investment matters.

“So one thing that needs to be done is that those who manage (the BUMN pension fund) must be experts, don’t let it be managed by, I’m sorry, retirees who don’t understand investment either,” said Pahala.

In addition to understanding investment, Pahala emphasized that SOE pension fund managers must understand appropriate policies, seen from the bottom line best practices aka the person’s best experience.

Even though he said that many retirees manage SOE pension funds, Pahala stressed that this was not the main problem with state-owned company pension funds misappropriation.

“Many (pensioners). It’s not a problem with retirees, the problem is whether they are managed by people who really have the expertise to manage it. It’s not a problem with retirees,” said Pahala.

[Gambas:Video CNN]

(mrh/pta)