Govt comes under fire over Sjahril<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government came under strong attack from top
\npoliticians on Thursday for detaining Bank Indonesia (BI)
\nGovernor Sjahril Sabirin on corruption charges.<\/p>\n
Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais said
\nthe detention, coming after a relentless government campaign to
\nunseat Sjahril, amounted to political intervention in the affairs
\nof the central bank.<\/p>\n
"Once again, the supremacy of the law has been subordinated by
\npolitical play," Amien told reporters.<\/p>\n
"The law has become a mere commodity, like cattle you buy and
\nsell. Frankly, I'm deeply disappointed with the way the
\ngovernment has treated the issue," he said.<\/p>\n
There were other people far more deserving to be detained than
\nSjahril if his crime was disbursing trillions of rupiah of Bank
\nIndonesia's liquidity credit, he said.<\/p>\n
"Sjahril probably accounted for 1 percent of the crime. But if
\nthe others who stole people's money got away, then the law is not
\nfunctioning," he said, adding that the Attorney General's Office
\nhad put its own credibility on the line.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who supported Sjahril in the
\nstand off with President Abdurrahman Wahid, said the reason cited
\nfor the detention -- that he might flee, destroy evidence or
\ncommit another crime -- was flimsy and inappropriate.<\/p>\n
He underscored the fact that Sjahril had cooperated with the
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
Akbar, who met with members of Bank Indonesia's board of
\ngovernors, said he would seek more clarification from the
\nAttorney General's Office regarding Sjahril's detention.<\/p>\n
The board of governors appointed deputy governor Anwar
\nNasution on Wednesday to head the bank in Sjahril's absence.<\/p>\n
Sjahril was detained by the Attorney General's Office on
\nWednesday after a marathon five hours of questioning in
\nconnection with his alleged role in the Bank Bali scandal.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said investigators had found
\nsome evidence of corruption by Sjahril.<\/p>\n
Sjahril's decision to order the invoicing and payment of Bank
\nBali funds without going through some verification process
\namounted to a crime, Marzuki said.<\/p>\n
The Bank Bali scandal revolves around the payment by Bank Bali
\nlast year of US$80 million in commission to PT Era Giat Prima, a
\ncompany linked to the Golkar Party, for the recovery of interbank
\nloans owed to the government.<\/p>\n
Some of the key suspects in the Bank Bali scandal have
\ntestified to the presence of Sjahril at a meeting with Golkar
\npoliticians in a luxury hotel in Jakarta during which the scam
\nwas supposed to have been concocted.<\/p>\n
Sjahril has denied the allegation and maintains he is
\ninnocent. He has accused the President of trying to buy him off
\nwith ambassadorial posts if he resigned from the central bank.<\/p>\n
Senior government officials, meanwhile, played down the
\npolitical significance of Sjahril's detention and insisted that
\nit should not have any impact on the economy or the rupiah.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry
\nKwik Kian Gie said there was no reason at all why Indonesia's
\nmacroeconomic indicators should not continue to improve.<\/p>\n
The rupiah, however, tumbled for the second day running over
\nconcerns over Sjahril's detention on Thursday, closing at Rp
\n8,710 to the dollar compared to Rp 8,640 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta stock market, in contrast, ended higher with the
\nComposite Index up by 1.5 percent to break the key support of 500
\nand close at 501.809. Dealers said the market ignored the
\npolitical rift between Sjahril and the President and was instead
\ninspired by overnight gains on Wall Street.<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo has also dismissed
\nspeculation that Sjahril's detention would undermine the
\ngovernment's economic reform programs.<\/p>\n
The government's statements appeared at odds with the warning
\nby Bank Indonesia that the latest twist in the stand off between
\nSjahril and Abdurrahman would affect the monetary stability.<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor Anwar again echoed this feeling on Thursday.<\/p>\n
"Of course, there will be an impact. But if we stick to the
\nexisting program, we could minimize the negative impact," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Anwar also pleaded for the government to provide a better
\nfacility for Sjahril, saying that the detention center at the
\nAttorney General's Office complex was improper.<\/p>\n
"We're not asking for a five-star facility, but a more
\ncomfortable one," he told reporters after his meeting with Akbar.<\/p>\n
"He is the central bank governor. He is not Eddy Tansil,"
\nAnwar said, referring to a notorious businessman convicted for
\ncorruption, who is now at large.<\/p>\n
Anwar asked that Sjahril be provided with basic necessities,
\nincluding proper food and a laptop computer which he needed to
\nprepare his legal defense.<\/p>\n
Anwar and BI deputy governor Achjar Iljas visited Sjahril at
\nthe detention center, bringing food and bottled mineral water,
\njust in time for Sjahril to break his Thursday fast.<\/p>\n
Anwar said he felt sad to see his superior behind bars.<\/p>\n
Journalists were prevented from seeing Sjahril.<\/p>\n
Chief of the detention security Dulani told journalists that
\nSjahril looked healthy. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a
\npair of black trousers and black leather sandals.<\/p>\n
A. Hamid, a security officer who brought food to Sjahril,
\nhowever, said that Sjahril looked stunned when he was brought to
\nthe detention center on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
"He just kept quiet. He hardly touched his food last night,"
\nHamid said. (bby\/rei\/prb\/jun\/har)<\/p>",
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