Bank branch manager summoned over Ghalib's case

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)