Authorities differ over status of Sjahril Sabirin and Ary Suta

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Sandy Darmosumarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police and the prosecutor's office gave conflicting statements on the status of former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Sjahril Sabirin and former Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPN) chairman I Putu Ary Suta in the alleged misuse of state funds.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said neither Sjahril nor Ary were on the list of suspects in the investigation of the scam now being conducted by the police.

"Police need to conduct some questioning before determining criminal status," Da'i said.

He was commenting on a notification letter from the police dated Sept. 29, 2003, which states that the police has begun an investigation of Sjahril and Ary Suta in connection with the case.

"The letter says we will begin the questioning of them and after that we can determine their status," Da'i said on Monday at the State Palace.

"We do not know who informed you about their status, but have we have not named them as suspects."

National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng confirmed Da'i's statement, saying the police had never declared Sjahril and Ary Suta suspects in the case.

But Marwan Effendi, the deputy chief for special crimes at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, told The Jakarta Post that unless he was notified otherwise, Sjahril and Ary Suta would continue to be considered suspects.

"The letter states that starting on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003, an investigation over Account No.502.000.002 owned by the Ministry of Finance, as State Treasury, has begun ... according to Law No. 31/1999 and No. 20/2001 on the fight against corruption ... with Dr. Sjahril Sabirin and I Putu Gede Ary Suta as suspects," Marwan quoted the police's notification letter as saying.

He added that the letter was signed by the deputy director of the graft unit, Sr. Comr. Marsudi Hanafi.

The case surfaced following a report from the Supreme Audit Agency that BI and IBRA had manipulated Rp 20.9 trillion in state fund, with Rp 17.76 trillion believed to have been misused by BI.

The government issued bonds worth Rp 53.779 trillion with a 15-year maturity period in 1999 and placed it in account No. 502. The funds are used by the government to cover the financial obligations of banks liquidated during the financial crisis that began in 1997.

Director of the National Police's graft unit, Brig. Gen. Sugiri, said last week there were probably more than four suspects in the case, with two coming from IBRA.

Without disclosing any names, Marsudi said the two suspects from IBRA were former high-ranking officials at the agency.

Ary Suta said he had not been questioned by the police in connection with the graft case. He said reports about his involvement in the case shocked him.

He said the investigation into the matter should focus on IBRA officials who served prior to his term from June 25, 2001, to April 22, 2002.

Mohammad Assegaf, Sjahril's former lawyer, previously stated that his client had never been questioned or summoned over the case. He also wondered why the police did not summon finance ministry officials for questioning.