Authorities differ over status of Sjahril Sabirin and Ary Suta<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Sandy Darmosumarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The police and the prosecutor's office gave conflicting
\nstatements on the status of former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor
\nSjahril Sabirin and former Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
\n(BPPN) chairman I Putu Ary Suta in the alleged misuse of state
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said neither Sjahril
\nnor Ary were on the list of suspects in the investigation of the
\nscam now being conducted by the police.<\/p>\n
\"Police need to conduct some questioning before determining
\ncriminal status,\" Da'i said.<\/p>\n
He was commenting on a notification letter from the police
\ndated Sept. 29, 2003, which states that the police has begun an
\ninvestigation of Sjahril and Ary Suta in connection with the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
\"The letter says we will begin the questioning of them and
\nafter that we can determine their status,\" Da'i said on Monday at
\nthe State Palace.<\/p>\n
\"We do not know who informed you about their status, but have
\nwe have not named them as suspects.\"<\/p>\n
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng
\nconfirmed Da'i's statement, saying the police had never declared
\nSjahril and Ary Suta suspects in the case.<\/p>\n
But Marwan Effendi, the deputy chief for special crimes at the
\nJakarta Prosecutor's Office, told The Jakarta Post that unless he
\nwas notified otherwise, Sjahril and Ary Suta would continue to be
\nconsidered suspects.<\/p>\n
\"The letter states that starting on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003,
\nan investigation over Account No.502.000.002 owned by the
\nMinistry of Finance, as State Treasury, has begun ... according
\nto Law No. 31\/1999 and No. 20\/2001 on the fight against
\ncorruption ... with Dr. Sjahril Sabirin and I Putu Gede Ary Suta
\nas suspects,\" Marwan quoted the police's notification letter as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
He added that the letter was signed by the deputy director of
\nthe graft unit, Sr. Comr. Marsudi Hanafi.<\/p>\n
The case surfaced following a report from the Supreme Audit
\nAgency that BI and IBRA had manipulated Rp 20.9 trillion in state
\nfund, with Rp 17.76 trillion believed to have been misused by BI.<\/p>\n
The government issued bonds worth Rp 53.779 trillion with a
\n15-year maturity period in 1999 and placed it in account No. 502.
\nThe funds are used by the government to cover the financial
\nobligations of banks liquidated during the financial crisis that
\nbegan in 1997.<\/p>\n
Director of the National Police's graft unit, Brig. Gen.
\nSugiri, said last week there were probably more than four
\nsuspects in the case, with two coming from IBRA.<\/p>\n
Without disclosing any names, Marsudi said the two suspects
\nfrom IBRA were former high-ranking officials at the agency.<\/p>\n
Ary Suta said he had not been questioned by the police in
\nconnection with the graft case. He said reports about his
\ninvolvement in the case shocked him.<\/p>\n
He said the investigation into the matter should focus on IBRA
\nofficials who served prior to his term from June 25, 2001, to
\nApril 22, 2002.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Assegaf, Sjahril's former lawyer, previously stated
\nthat his client had never been questioned or summoned over the
\ncase. He also wondered why the police did not summon finance
\nministry officials for questioning.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/authorities-differ-over-status-of-sjahril-sabirin-and-ary-suta-1447893297",
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