Prosecutor's office probes cases of corruption<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court has been investigating 18
\ncases of corruption, including some in state banks, which were
\nrecently discovered by the Government Audit Agency (BPKP), Chief
\nJustice Singgih said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The cases are among 223 cases that the agency has discovered
\nover the past five years, and which have caused losses to the
\nstate of hundreds of billions of rupiah.<\/p>\n
Singgih stressed that not all of the cases uncovered by the
\nagency involved corruption. Many of them were \"administrative\" in
\nnature and were civil matters which could be dealt with by the
\nlower courts or by Bank Indonesia (the central bank).<\/p>\n
\"The 18 cases are handled by the prosecutor's office,\" he told
\njournalists after a meeting with President Soeharto at the Bina
\nGraha presidential office.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, BPKP chairman Soedarjono told the House of
\nRepresentatives that most of the corruption cases had been
\nbrought to court but only 44 of them had been decided.<\/p>\n
The agency, which comes under the finance ministry, found that
\nthe greatest number of fraud cases occurred in the banking
\nsector.<\/p>\n
Singgih said that the Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo)
\nscandal had caused the largest loss to the state, with US$620
\nmillion going missing.<\/p>\n
The Bapindo scandal landed businessman Eddy Tansil, the main
\nculprit, with 20 years in jail. Several former bank directors
\nhave also been imprisoned for their role in the affair.<\/p>\n
Singgih said that most corruption cases concerned banking and
\ntaxation fraud. \"Weak supervision is to blame for the high
\nincidence of corruption in state banks,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Slack supervision had given rise to widespread violations of
\nbanking rules, including violations of the lending limit, and
\ncollusion between officials such as occurred in the Bapindo
\nscandal, he said.<\/p>\n
Supervision<\/p>\n
\"Investigations into the Bapindo scandal by the attorney
\ngeneral's office and BPKP have shown how weak supervision in the
\nbank was,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The issuance of credit from Bapindo to Eddy Tansil was the
\nresult of collusion between bank officials and Eddy, the owner of
\nthe Golden Key Group.<\/p>\n
Singgih said that corruption cases would be brought to court
\nbut that civil cases involving banks might be transferred to Bank
\nIndonesia for determination.<\/p>\n
He quoted President Soeharto as saying that supervision within
\ngovernment agencies should be tightened in order to minimize
\ncorruption and abuses of power.<\/p>\n
The chief justice was reporting to President Soeharto on the
\nSupreme Court's plan to hold a coordinating meeting with
\ninspector generals from all ministries.<\/p>\n
The planned meeting is to discuss various efforts to combat
\ncorruption and leakages of state funds. (pan)<\/p>",
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