Sjahril detained, Anwar takes over<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office detained Bank
\nIndonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin on Wednesday in connection
\nwith its investigation into the Bank Bali corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
The move followed fruitless government efforts to unseat him
\nfrom the central bank since December, and came only hours after
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid returned home from an overseas trip.<\/p>\n
Immediately after news of the detention broke, Bank Indonesia
\nissued a statement regretting the move as potentially affecting
\nthe country's monetary stability.<\/p>\n
The bank also announced that senior deputy governor Anwar
\nNasution had taken over the leadership of the central bank until
\nSjahril could resume his job.<\/p>\n
Sjahril, who was named a suspect in the Bank Bali case last
\nweek, has rejected government demands for him to stand down in
\nspite of an ongoing criminal investigation into him.<\/p>\n
He has repeatedly denied the charges, and accused the
\nPresident of using the Bank Bali case to force him from office.<\/p>\n
Sjahril went to the Attorney General's Office on Wednesday
\nmorning to answer a summons in connection with accusations of
\ncomplicity in last year's Bank Bali scandal.<\/p>\n
He never left the office complex. He refused to talk to
\njournalists as he was being escorted by two officers to an
\nawaiting car that took him to the office's nearby detention
\ncenter.<\/p>\n
He was formally charged with violating the central bank's
\nprudential principle when he ordered Bank Indonesia to reimburse
\ninterbank loans, guaranteed by the government, to Bank Bali.<\/p>\n
Witnesses have testified to Sjahril's presence at a meeting
\ninvolving some leaders of Golkar Party at a five-star hotel in
\nJakarta where the loan scam is said to have been concocted.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office spokesman, Yushar Yahya, told
\nThe Jakarta Post that Sjahril had been detained in order to
\nfacilitate the investigation into him.<\/p>\n
Director of Investigation Ris Sihombing said he signed the
\narrest warrant on orders from Attorney General Marzuki Darusman.
\nThe warrant calls for a 20-day detention.<\/p>\n
Sjahril's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf questioned the decision to
\ndetain him, saying that his client had always cooperated with and
\nnever obstructed the investigation.<\/p>\n
\"Sjahril's detention is the result of a protracted dispute
\nbetween my client and Gus Dur,\" Assegaf said, referring to the
\nPresident by his nickname.<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo dismissed speculation that
\nthe detention would undermine the implementation of the
\ngovernment's economic recovery program. Bambang pledged to
\ncooperate with the caretaker of the central bank.<\/p>\n
\"The working relationship between the government and Bank
\nIndonesia is institutional and does not depend on individual
\nofficials,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bambang said he was confident that the detention would have
\nlittle impact on the financial markets.<\/p>\n
\"I think the market will not react negatively ... Bank
\nIndonesia as an institution still exists,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The rupiah closed slightly lower at Rp 8,648 per U.S. dollar
\non Wednesday, compared to Rp 8,600 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza
\nMahendra said Sjahril's arrest complied with Criminal Code
\nprocedures because the governor was being accused of a crime that
\ncarries a maximum jail term of more than five years.<\/p>\n
\"The 1999 law on the central bank is not applicable in this
\ncase,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yusril agreed that technically Sjahril remained the central
\nbank's chief until the court found him guilty.<\/p>\n
In refusing to stand down, Sjahril had invoked a 1999 piece of
\nlegislation that guarantees the central bank's independence from
\nthe government.<\/p>\n
The law also stipulates that only the House of Representatives
\nhas the power to dismiss the central governor, and then only
\nafter he has been found guilty by a court.<\/p>\n
The House last week backed Sjahril's refusal to stand down,
\neven after he had been named a criminal suspect.<\/p>\n
From the presidential office, Cabinet Secretary Marsilam
\nSimanjuntak said Sjahril should have been suspended from his post
\nwhen the criminal investigation into him first began.<\/p>\n
Marsilam denied that the President had intervened in the
\ncentral bank's affairs when he offered Sjahril an ambassadorial
\npost or a job in the Supreme Advisory Board in return for
\nresigning from his job.<\/p>\n
The President did that precisely to spare Sjahril from having
\nto face investigation, he said as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Noted legal banking observer Pradjoto said he dismissed the
\nsuggestion that the government had been meddling in central bank
\naffairs.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think it has anything to do with Bank Indonesia's
\nindependence. This is about a criminal investigation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said Sjahril's detention would not have been such a
\npersonal tragedy if he had voluntarily stepped aside to focus
\nhimself on facing the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
\"I have long suggested that he step aside. That would have
\nbeen more elegant,\" he said. (dja\/jun\/bby\/rei)<\/p>",
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