Jakarta. Law authorities have recovered nearly 1 million square meters of land and buildings from individuals and corporations who took massive debts from the government during the 1998 financial crisis but failed to repay.

The loans, known as Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI), were provided by the central bank to prevent the banking system from collapsing when the rupiah exchange rate fell sharply against the US dollar. However, many debtors misused the loans to finance other businesses and conspired to avoid repayment in full.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s government has established a task force to collect the debt and seize assets used as collateral to minimize state losses more than two decades after the scandal.

Chief Legal Affairs Minister Hadi Tjahjanto on Friday handed over the seized assets to nine ministries and state agencies to be used for public interests.

The entire asset collection is worth an estimated Rp 2.77 trillion ($170 million) and measures 989,168 square meters in total, Hadi said during a news conference at his office in Jakarta.

He symbolically handed over the assets to the Supreme Court, the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Maritime Affairs Ministry, the State Intelligence Agency, the Election Oversight Body, the Central Statistics Agency, and the Ombudsman.

"These properties can be used as office buildings, official residences, laboratories, polytechnic campuses, or warehouses,” Hadi said. "They must be immediately utilized by ministries and state agencies to prevent irresponsible parties from occupying them."