Former BI directors acquitted<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta High Court has overturned the verdicts of a lower
\ncourt which convicted three former directors of Bank Indonesia
\n(BI) for their alleged involvement in the misuse of BI liquidity
\nsupport (BLBI) funds, which caused the state to suffer Rp 18.164
\ntrillion in losses.<\/p>\n
Hasan Basri Passe, the court's spokesman, said Monday that the
\ncourt had acquitted the convicts following the issuance of the
\nverdicts on their separate appeals in late December.<\/p>\n
\"BLBI is the government's policy. BI only carried out its
\nmandate,\" said Hasan, adding that the three cases were heard by
\nthree panels of judges all led by Judge Samang Hamidi.<\/p>\n
The Central Jakarta District Court convicted last year Paul
\nSoetopo Tjokronegoro, Hendrobudiyanto and Heru Soepraptomo
\nfor abusing their power in 1997 by disbursing state funds to
\nprivate banks.<\/p>\n
The court sentenced Paul to two-and-a-half-years in prison and
\nhanded down three-year prison terms to Hendrobudiyanto and Heru
\nfor authorizing the disbursement of Rp 18.164 trillion in state
\nfunds to 45 private banks.<\/p>\n
According to the verdicts, the private banks were not entitled
\nto BLBI funds.<\/p>\n
The three directors, aged between 63 and 73 years old, were
\nnot detained despite their prison sentences.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman
\nsaid prosecutors would appeal the verdicts to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"Of course the prosecutors who handled the cases must
\nchallenge the verdicts,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
The BLBI case stemmed from the government's decision to
\nprovide liquidity support, amounting to Rp 144.5 trillion, to
\nassist 48 commercial banks in coping with massive runs during the
\nmonetary crisis from August 1997 to early 1999.<\/p>\n
However, 95 percent of the money was eventually embezzled.<\/p>\n
Law enforcers have sent to court dozens of bankers implicated
\nin the misuse of state funds since 2000. The move, however,
\nfailed to recoup the state funds, as many defendants were
\nacquitted from all wrongdoings while some fled justice despite
\nthe lenient sentences they were handed.<\/p>\n
The state suffered its first loss in 2000, when the South
\nJakarta District Court exonerated Hendrawan Haryono, former
\ndeputy director of the now defunct Bank Aspac, of corruption.<\/p>\n
Hendrawan was instead found guilty of violating Article 49B of
\nLaw No. 7\/1992 on banking, and was sentenced to one year in
\nprison and ordered to pay a Rp 500 million fine, despite the fact
\nthat the bank had caused Rp 583.4 billion in losses to the state.<\/p>\n
Later on, the country witnessed law enforcers' inability to
\nbring justice to BLBI corruptors, such as Samadikun Hartono of
\nthe now-defunct Modern Bank and David Nusa Wijaya of now-defunct
\nBank Servitia, who managed to flee following their convictions.<\/p>\n
Samadikun, imprisoned for the misuse of Rp 1.69 trillion in
\nBLBI funds, fled after the Supreme Court annulled the verdict of
\na lower court, acquitting him of all charges. The whereabouts of
\nDavid Nusa Wijaya remain unknown, since the West Jakarta District
\nCourt sentenced him to one year in prison for the
\nmisappropriation of Rp 1.27 trillion in BLBI funds.<\/p>\n
In several cases, courts handed down heavy sentences such as
\nthe Central Jakarta District Court, which sentenced the late
\nHendra Rahardja of now-defunct Bank BHS to life imprisonment, as
\nwell as Eko Edi Putranto and Sherny Kojongian (also from Bank
\nBHS) to 20 years in prison each for misusing Rp 2.696 trillion in
\nBLBI funds.<\/p>\n
The three of them were, however, tried in absentia. Hendra
\ndied last year in Australia. However, to date, the government has
\nbeen unable to claim Hendra's assets.<\/p>",
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