Former central banking chief cleared in banking scandal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Adrianus Mooy, the former governor of the
\ncentral bank, has been virtually cleared of involvement in the Rp
\n1.3 trillion ($620 million) scandal at Bank Pembangunan Indonesia
\n(Bapindo), at least by President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Mooy, now Indonesia's ambassador to the European Union, was
\nquestioned at length by Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential
\noffice about his knowledge of the scam, which occurred at the
\ngovernment-owned bank while he still headed Bank Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The verdict, according to Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono,
\nwho attended the meeting, was that Mooy was unaware of the
\nproblem at the time since not every problem loan reached his
\ndesk.<\/p>\n
Mooy served as governor of the central bank until March of
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
He and a number of former senior government officials have
\nbeen mentioned as possible accomplices in the scandal,
\nparticularly through their roles in pressuring Bapindo executives
\nto grant $430 million in loans to Eddy Tansil, the businessman at
\nthe center of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Two other officials implicated are Sudomo, currently the
\nchairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, and J.B. Sumarlin, the
\nchairman of the Supreme Audit Agency. Sudomo was the coordinating
\nminister of political affairs and security and Sumarlin was the
\nminister of finance, respectively, between 1989 and 1992 when the
\nloans to Tansil were granted and disbursed.<\/p>\n
In Mooy's case, there are questions as to why such a large
\nproblem escaped his attention, given that it is Bank Indonesia's
\nresponsibility to supervise the activities of all the country's
\nbanks.<\/p>\n
\"The Bank Indonesia governor didn't have to know about every
\ncredit because that is the responsibility of the bank's (Bapindo)
\ndirectors. It's not the central bank's task to arrange credits.<\/p>\n
\"Wasn't there any supervision by the central bank? Sure there
\nwas... If the problem was big enough, the governor should have
\nreported it to the government, in this case the President. This
\nhappened in the Bank Duta case,\" Moerdiono said.<\/p>\n
Mechanism<\/p>\n
Mooy told reporters after the meeting yesterday that the
\nBapindo problem never reached his desk simply because his
\nsubordinates at the central bank were busy trying to resolve the
\ncase and felt there was no need to bring it to him.<\/p>\n
This is a procedural matter, he said. \"Maybe it would be
\nbetter for you to ask the current Bank Indonesia governor about
\nthe mechanism.\"<\/p>\n
Moerdiono corroborated Mooy's remarks by saying that the
\nambassador explained to the president that he had never heard of
\nEddy Tansil nor his Golden Key Group until they became headline
\nnews.<\/p>\n
\"So how could we have been expected to know about the
\nproblem?\" Moerdiono asked.<\/p>\n
He said that he had also asked Attorney General Singgih, whose
\noffice is conducting the investigation, whether there was further
\nneed to question Mooy. \"The Attorney General responded that there
\nwas no sufficient reason at this time to question Mooy.\"<\/p>\n
\"We needed this information while Mooy is still in the
\ncountry,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Singgih yesterday said that he welcomed the
\nassistance of an American detective agency in tracking down the
\nwealth of Tansil abroad, because a private agency is free from
\nthe bureaucratic procedures which beset his office.<\/p>\n
The government has retained the services of Kroll Associates
\nInc. of New York, whose track record includes hunting the wealth
\nof former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and that of Iraqi
\npresident Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n
The government has seized many of the assets belonging to
\nTansil and Golden Key Group in Indonesia but believes that much
\nmore is stashed abroad.<\/p>\n
Singgih stressed that Kroll's task would be simply to trace
\nTansil's deposits and other wealth overseas. (emb\/imn)<\/p>",
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