Achwan resigns from BI post

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia announced on Fridayt that deputy governor Achwan had resigned from the central bank after his two- year term ended on Thursday.

The central bank said in a press statement that Achwan had handed over his post to Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin.

"According to Law No. 23/1999 on Bank Indonesia, Achwan's term ends on May 17, 2001," Sjahril said.

Achwan was appointed as deputy governor of Bank Indonesia on May 17, 1999.

Achwan actually tendered his resignation in November last year, together with four other deputy governors, following a revelation by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that much of the more than Rp 144 trillion in bank liquidity support funds channeled by the central bank had been abused by some banks. Two other deputy governors did not participate in the move.

But President Abdurrahman Wahid asked the deputy governors to stay on until the House of Representatives could select their replacements.

The resignation move was made at a time when Sjahril was still in the custody of the Attorney General's Office over his alleged role in the high profile Bank Bali scandal.

Abdurrahman had earlier demanded that Sjahril step down to allow a reshuffle of the top management of Bank Indonesia, an institution which had been plagued with massive corruption in the past. But Sjahril declined to comply with the President's wish. The government was stripped of its power to force the members of Bank Indonesia's board of governors to resign by the enactment in May 1999 of Law No. 23/1999 on the independency of Bank Indonesia unless the persons in question are incapacitated or proven to have committed a crime.

House commission IX on the state budget and finance is still in the process of selecting candidates to succeed Achwan and Dono Iskandar, who had earlier left Bank Indonesia to represent Indonesia at the International Monetary Fund's headquarters in Washington.(rei)