Authorities differ over status of Sjahril Sabirin and Ary Suta
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.