THE bad news reached Budi Sampoerna at the beginning of last November. Bank Century, where he had trillions of rupiah on deposit, was having liquidity problems. The bank’s owner, Robert Tantular, who went to Budi Sampoerna’s home in Surabaya, conveyed the bad news. “If there are no new investors, Bank Century will have difficulty to continue operating,” said a Tempo source who knew about this meeting.

Robert put forward several scenario