Fire destroys important documents at BPKP office<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Documents related to the alleged \"mishandling\"
\nof multibillion dollar emergency supports from Bank Indonesia
\nhave allegedly turned into ashes in a fire that gutted the third
\nfloor of the Development and Finance Comptroller's (BPKP) office
\nhere on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
BPKP executives and staff strongly believed that the incident
\nhad been intentionally designed by parties aimed at destroying
\nthe papers, most of which were kept at the third-floor offices of
\nthe four-story building.<\/p>\n
BPKP's deputy chief for administrative affairs Chatim Baidaei
\nquoted some of his staff as saying that some of them smelled fuel
\non the third floor before the fire.<\/p>\n
No fatalities were reported in the fire that started at 1:20
\np.m.<\/p>\n
Some 14 fire engines, including two from state oil firm
\nPertamina, were dispatched to the site on the busy Jl. Hayam
\nWuruk in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The firemen managed to extinguish the fire some four hours
\nlater.<\/p>\n
Until late in the evening, none of the BPKP executives could
\nbe reached for confirmation of their findings concerning damages
\nfrom the fire.<\/p>\n
Gambir subprecinct police chief, Asst. Supt. Slamet Rijanto,
\nonly said that the fire was being investigated.<\/p>\n
His men, he said, have began questioning a number of people,
\nincluding cleaning service workers and security guards at the
\nbuilding.<\/p>\n
Chatim suspected that the fire was arson.<\/p>\n
\"All data and documents related to the cases (the central
\nbank's liquidity support to ailing banks and state institutions),
\nparticularly the new ones, had been stored on the gutted floor,\"
\nChatim advised.<\/p>\n
He added that the floor was home to the offices of, among
\nothers, BPKP head Arie Sulendro and deputies for special cases.<\/p>\n
\"But we hope that we have back-up copies since Acting Deputy
\nVII for special cases, Padmo Mihardjo, once proposed to film all
\nthe data for security reasons,\" Chatim was quoted as saying by
\nAstaga.com.<\/p>\n
The alleged mishandling of the government's Rp 144.5 trillion
\nemergency loans is being investigated by the Supreme Audit Agency
\nwith the help of other institutions, including BPKP.<\/p>\n
The loans were supposed to be used by the banks to reimburse
\ndepositors' money. But BPK said in its recent report that the
\nbanks used the money for other purposes, including currency
\nspeculation, lending to affiliated business groups and for
\nrepaying subordinated loans.<\/p>\n
The agency laid the blame for the misuse of the huge liquidity
\ncredits squarely on the extremely poor quality of the central
\nbank's supervision.<\/p>\n
The report said the central bank depended too much on off-site
\nsupervision (assessing written reports), whereas many commercial
\nbanks had manipulated their financial reports for years.<\/p>\n
The loans have become a government obligation to the central
\nbank. The government will issue bonds to cover the debt, but it
\nwants to clarify first whether there was any wrongdoing in the
\ngranting of the loans.<\/p>\n
More than Rp 100 trillion of the loans were channeled to five
\nbanks -- the nationalized Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Danamon
\nand the now defunct Bank Subentra, Bank Umum Nasional (BUN) and
\nBank BDNI.<\/p>\n
The previous government signed an agreement with the owners of
\nthose banks defining a mechanism for payment of their
\nobligations, but the present government has said it would revise
\nthe that agreement on grounds that it only benefited the former
\nbank owners at the expense of the state and taxpayers.<\/p>\n
The Thursday fire reminds many of several fires in 1997 that
\ntook place at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas)
\nbuilding, the Ministry of Finance complex, and the Bank Indonesia
\n(BI) building.<\/p>\n
Police forensic experts concluded that those the three fires
\nwere the work of arsonists and each of the incidents were
\nrelated. But the police have failed to identify any suspects or
\nmasterminds behind the fires. (07\/bsr)<\/p>",
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