Isle banker
grilled over debts

Sia says a turnaround in the Asian
economy is his only hope to repay
$296 million to creditors

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

It could be five or six years before bankrupt Indonesian businessman Sukamto Sia repays any of the $296 million he owes to banks, casinos, and other creditors from Singapore to London.

"Maybe sometime, hopefully, the companies we invested in will appreciate," Sia told creditors yesterday in a meeting before a federal bankruptcy trustee in Honolulu.

The neatly manicured Sia, formerly known as Sukarman Sukamto, said his only hope of financial recovery is a major turnaround in the Asian economy.

"Most of my assets have depreciated a lot," said Sia, calm and unflappable through the tedious three-hour meeting.

Sia's Honolulu attorney, Jerrold Gubin, said he plans to file Sia's reorganization plan -- spelling out how he plans to repay debts -- early next month. If approved by creditors and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the plan could bring the case to a close within several months.

Sia filed for reorganization bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the federal code last month. Documents filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court list $9.4 million in assets and $296 million in debts -- most of them to banks and casinos on the mainland and abroad.

Attorneys representing casinos in Las Vegas and London yesterday grilled Sia about numerous holdings and business dealings whose values aren't shown in court records.

Sia, controlling owner of the Bank of Honolulu, is also shown as a major shareholder in 17 other companies.

Honolulu attorney Don Gelber, representing Caesars Palace in Las Vegas which is owed $8.4 million for gambling debts, was unsatisfied with vague responses to questions about a trust Sia set up for his wife and three children, and the value of the Bank of Honolulu, of which he is the major shareholder.

Gelber also questioned Sia's use of money not disclosed among his assets or authorized by the court to pay his living costs -- listed in court documents at $1,250 a month. "I admire your frugality," Gelber said. "Where are you getting the money?"

Sia, who drives a Rolls Royce "Silver Spur" and who showed up yesterday with two bodyguards, said he's drawing on cash from his office.

Los Angeles attorney Steven Fox, representing London Club International, LLC, in England, was similarly unable to learn the value Sia's jewelry, or of properties owned by his wife, Indriati Latef.

Latef, who owns a home on Tantalus Drive and in Singapore, was not at the yesterday's proceeding.

"Have you ever discussed with your wife what property she owns?" Fox asked.

"No," Sia said.

Asked about the Rolls Royce he drives and the Mercedes Benz his wife drives in Hawaii, Sia described them both as company cars.

He said he owned a Gulf Stream G-4 private airplane but sold it about five years ago.

Sia will face more grilling next month when attorneys representing the casinos plan to pick up where they left off.

Meanwhile, Sia's gambling debts in Las Vegas remain the subject of a criminal investigation by Nevada authorities.