Ex-IBRA officials suspected of misusing funds<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Police named on Tuesday a former Indonesian Bank
\nRestructuring Agency (IBRA) chairman and his ex-deputy as
\nsuspects in the misuse of Rp 20.9 trillion (US$2.45 billion) from
\naccount no. 502.<\/p>\n
"We have declared them suspects after finding sufficient
\nevidence during the process of examining how they disbursed the
\nfunds to several troubled banks," National Police chief of
\ndetectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said.<\/p>\n
The government funds in Bank Indonesia account no. 502 were
\nused to cover the financial obligations of closed banks as part
\nof the government's blanket guarantee program. The program was
\nintroduced in the late 1990s to help restore investor confidence
\nin the country.<\/p>\n
Erwin said the disbursement of the money failed to follow
\nprevailing procedures.<\/p>\n
He refused to reveal the names of the two high-profile
\nsuspects, saying the investigation was under way.<\/p>\n
IBRA has been chaired by six men since 1998, namely Bambang
\nSubianto (1998), Glenn Yusuf (1999-2000), Cacuk Sudaryanto (2000-
\n2001), Edwin Gerungan (2001), Ary Suta (2002) and Safruddin
\nTumenggung (2002-2003).<\/p>\n
Erwin said the two suspects were believed to have misused Rp
\n400 billion of the total Rp 20.9 trillion and that the money
\nshould not have been given to several banks because the move was
\nas not adequately authorized.<\/p>\n
"For example, the funds were disbursed only with the approval
\nof several staff officers after several meetings. The meetings
\nwere not representative enough to decide the disbursement of such
\nhuge amounts," he added.<\/p>\n
He said the police had questioned more than 20 witnesses in
\nthe graft case and would summon many more in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
More suspects could be named by the police as the
\ninvestigations continues, he said.<\/p>\n
"We will charge them under the Anticorruption Law because they
\nmisused state funds," said Erwin.<\/p>\n
National Police deputy chief of public relations Brig. Gen.
\nSoenarko said earlier that two more officials from Bank Indonesia
\n(BI) had been quizzed since Monday.<\/p>\n
The two are BI director of banking regulations Nelson
\nTampubolon and BI head of liquidity support (BLBI) M. Ali Said
\nKasim.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) alleged in August that Rp 20.9
\ntrillion from Account No. 502 had been misused by BI and IBRA.<\/p>\n
The BPK audit report was the result of an investigation
\nundertaken at the request of the House of Representatives in mid-
\n2001, after most of the funds (approximately Rp 53.8 trillion) in
\nthe account had been used.<\/p>\n
The audit request was made after the government had decided to
\nset up a second account containing approximately Rp 40 trillion
\nfor the same purpose. The new account is known as account no.
\n509.<\/p>\n
The audit report showed that of the Rp 20.9 trillion of
\nallegedly abused funds, Rp 17.77 trillion had been used by BI and
\nthe remainder by IBRA.<\/p>\n
Of the Rp 17.7 trillion funds used by BI, Rp 14.45 trillion
\nwas allegedly withdrawn in May 2000. BI regarded the funds as
\nadditional liquidity or BLBI on top of the Rp 144.5 trillion in
\nfunds injected into troubled banks by the central bank under the
\nfirst phase of the BLBI program.<\/p>\n
BI injected hundreds of trillions of rupiah into banks to
\nprevent the banking sector from collapsing after being severely
\nhit by the economic crisis in late 1997.<\/p>\n
Both BI and IBRA have reiterated that there was no wrongdoing
\ninvolved in the use of the funds and that everything had been
\ndone in line with the law.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-ibra-officials-suspected-of-misusing-funds-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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