AGO plans to summon Soedradjat this month<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Imanuddin, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office plans to summon former governor
\nof Bank Indonesia Soedradjat Djiwandono this month as a suspect
\nin a Rp 19 trillion (US$2.1 billion) financial scandal in Bank
\nIndonesia's liquidity support (BLBI) scheme.<\/p>\n
Barman Zahir, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office,
\nsaid on Friday that the questioning of Soedradjat would only be
\nheld after the state investigators completed their current tasks
\nto summon witnesses in the scandal.<\/p>\n
\"The summons will probably be issued in June,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, an investigator in the case, who requested
\nanonymity, told The Jakarta Post that the questioning was
\nscheduled to be conducted in the second week of June.<\/p>\n
Soedradjat, the son-in-law of the late economics guru Soemitro
\nDjojohadikusumo, is currently a researcher at the Singapore-based
\nInstitute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) and has been
\nstaying in an apartment there with his wife for the past year.<\/p>\n
The source said that Soedradjat was now in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
However, Barman said, the investigators were not worried about
\nthe possibility that the suspect would escape overseas as many
\ncorruption suspects did.<\/p>\n
\"Wherever his lives, investigators believe that the suspect
\nwill not hamper the investigation,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The investigators declared Soedradjat a suspect on May 7, but
\nonly announced it to the public on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The investigators found that Soedradjat, along with his three
\nsubordinates, had abused his power by extending credit facilities
\nto now-defunct commercial banks while he was in office between
\n1996 and 1998.<\/p>\n
Three of his directors at the time, namely Heru Soepraptomo,
\nPaul Soetopo and Hendrobudiyanto, are now facing trial on charges
\nof breaching banking regulations by extending the loans and
\noffering the facilities to the indebted banks.<\/p>\n
The case is part of the BLBI scandal that, according to the
\nSupreme Audit Agency (BPK), has caused losses to the state
\nequivalent to billions of U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
The government channeled Rp 144.5 trillion in liquidity
\nsupport to 48 commercial banks as an emergency measure to restore
\npublic confidence in the banks when the crisis worst hit the
\ncountry in 1998 and 1999.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found later that 95 percent, or
\nRp 138.4 trillion, of the emergency loans had either been misused
\nor been extended in violation of banking regulations.<\/p>\n
The audit result revealed that the emergency loans were
\nsupposed to be used only to reimburse depositors during the bank
\nruns, but the banks used the money for other purposes, including
\nforeign exchange trade, lending to affiliated business groups and
\nfor repaying subordinated loans.<\/p>\n
BPK laid the blame for the malfeasance on the extremely poor
\nsupervision of the central bank which depended too much on the
\nbanks' written reports that are often manipulated.<\/p>\n
In a questioning session as a witness last year, Soedradjat
\nadmitted that his three subordinates neglected to impose
\nsanctions against all banks that failed to improve their
\nperformance despite the central bank's financial support.<\/p>\n
He said that other directors in his time were also in a
\nsimilar position and had a similar responsibility to the three
\nnow standing trial.<\/p>\n
The others include Mansjurdin Nurdin and Budiono, former
\nfinance minister in president Abdurrahman Wahid's cabinet.<\/p>\n
However, the investigators have yet to question former members
\nof the central bank's board of directors under Soedradjat.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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