Bank branch manager summoned over Ghalib's case

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police on Saturday summoned the manager of Bank Lippo's Melawai branch office in South Jakarta, Sihdianto, as a witness in the investigation into the public disclosure of information on the private accounts of Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib and his wife.

Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, head of the police detective unit, said police plan to question nine other witnesses regarding the leakage of the account records.

"The other witnesses may include those from the Indonesian Wrestling Association (PGSI), the Attorney General's Office and from Bank Lippo itself," officer Bambang said.

Ghalib's account records, including data on withdrawals and deposits, were first revealed to the press on June 3 by the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW). The records showed the attorney general had received money transfers worth Rp 13 billion from several parties, including businessmen that had been investigated by Ghalib's office, to his accounts from August 1998 to last month.

Teten Masduki, ICW executive coordinator, said the money was put in 14 bank accounts and four fixed deposits at Bank Lippo's Melawai branch office.

After a war of words lasting several days, both Ghalib and Teten met separately with President B.J. Habibie to explain their positions.

On Friday, Habibie announced plans to appoint an independent accounting firm to audit Ghalib's accounts, in an apparent attempt to make an unbiased judgment of the bribery charges leveled against the attorney general.

The government has not yet named a company to conduct the audit, but said the work would be completed within one week.

Ghalib has asked the police to find the party responsible for disclosing his and his wife's account information.

But officer Alex on Saturday expressed pessimism that police detectives could find the parties, referring to complicated procedures involved in investigating banking cases.

He said that the investigation would be made much easier if his unit was given permission from the Ministry of Finance, or owners of the bank accounts named as criminal suspects to access information.

During the police questioning on Saturday, Sihdianto was accompanied by his lawyer, Panji Prasetya.

Speaking to reporters after the questioning, Prasetya said his client had no idea about the disclosure of Ghalib's account records.

He explained that only three Bank Lippo executives had access to the accounts of customers. He did not name these three.

"Besides them, staff of Bank Indonesia also have direct access to customers' bank accounts, since they do routine audits at all banks, including Bank Lippo," he said.

"So, it is also possible that Bank Indonesia might have revealed the account records to the public."

Bank Lippo, part of the Lippo Group chaired by businessman Mochtar Riady, ran advertisements in several dailies here on Saturday insisting it had no part in the leaking of information about the accounts of Ghalib and his wife, Andi Murniati.

The advertisement said the bank had conducted an internal investigation and concluded that Bank Lippo was not responsible for the leakage.

A television station last Friday reported that many customers had closed their accounts at Bank Lippo, fearing disclosure of their financial records.

In a related development, the Jakarta Police are scheduled to summon Tahir, treasurer of the Indonesian Wrestling Association, (PGSI) for questioning on Monday.

Officer Alex said the questioning of Tahir, who is the son-in- law of prominent businessman Mochtar Riady, was planned at 10 a.m. at the Jakarta Police Headquarters on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

The Riady family is the owner of widely diversified Lippo Group, which is active in banking and the property sector.

"Only information about the sports organization's financial procedures will be heard from him (Tahir)," Alex said on Sunday.

Earlier, Ghalib's lawyer Ruhut Sitompul said it was Tahir who proposed opening a new account for the organization in Ghalib's name in a meeting of the sports organization in March.

The meeting agreed to elect Ghalib as chairman. He was officially installed a month later.

The account was opened in Ghalib's name on March 22. (emf/asa/bsr)