AGO's plans to withdraw disputed funds criticized

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite increasing protests, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) insisted upon executing a court ruling on Friday requiring Bank Permata, owned by the government, to return Rp 546.5 billion (about US$65 million) in funds to a company called PT Era Giat Prima (EGP).

"Whatever happens, the court ruling must be adhered to because the legal decision on the issue is final," AGO spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman announced to the public.

The dispute surrounding the funds started when the now- defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), in 2002 merged five ailing banks -- including Bank Bali -- to form Bank Permata, now the country's 10th largest bank in terms of assets.

It later turned out that during the merger process, the agency had used Rp 546.5 billion stashed away in a Bank Bali account -- but the money was not supposed to be used as it was the subject of legal proceedings surrounding the Bank Bali case involving the owner of EGP, Djoko Tjandra.

The Bank Bali scandal erupted in 1999 and revolved around allegations that EGP had illegally obtained the funds from the bank. IBRA then canceled the transaction, while Djoko and others involved were charged with corruption and convicted by lower courts.

But the Supreme Court last year overturned Djoko's conviction on all charges, which means that IBRA -- or the government -- now must return the disputed money to Djoko and EGP.

The AGO's plan to execute the ruling was greeted with protests from many anticorruption activists, who said it would cause losses of state funds.

The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) demanded the AGO postpone the execution plan and seek a judicial review on the case to annul the ruling.

"That's the only way for the AGO to act as a "lawyer of the state", instead of becoming a "lawyer for Djoko" as it currently shows in this case," ICW said in a statement, referring to Djoko Tjandra, a co-owner of EGP.

The corruption watchdog based his argument on the fact that the transaction between Bank Bali and EGP violated existing regulations and that the Bank Bali case was still underway for other suspects.

"If the AGO insists on executing the ruling, we, along with other elements of society, will file a class action law suit against the AGO," ICW said in the statement signed by coordinator Teten Masduki.