Bank DKI president to be questioned

JAKARTA (JP): Chief of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office Syahmardan Lubis said on Tuesday that he would summon city-owned Bank DKI's president Soeharto and officials of city-owned property developer PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya (PSJ) to clarify the bank's Rp 172 billion (US$21.5 million) bad credit.

"We are now collecting data on the case and, if any thing is found, it is possible we will bring them to court," Syahmardan said.

He said that to get data, the office had established several teams in charge of handling data collection on Bank DKI, PSJ and other related institutions.

"We hope the teams can finish their tasks soon so that the case can be finalized as soon as possible," he said.

However, he said, the teams faced an uphill task because collecting data was not easy work.

As of mid-October, the bank's bad credit had reached Rp 172 billion which, according to city councilors, was caused mainly by Soeharto's "authoritarian" management style especially in the process of granting loans.

Soeharto and his deputies, namely the bank's director of general affairs Djunaidy Albaghdady and marketing chief Bassar Soetardjo, have been accused of involvement in the fraudulent purchase of 124.8 hectares of land in Bogor.

The case also involves PSJ officials who reportedly played roles in purchasing the land from PT Multan Ekadharma for the development of a housing complex for the administration's employees.

However, Syahmardan could not name the PSJ officials to be summoned. "We haven't identified them," he said. (ind)