BLBI files missing from Attorney General's Office

BLBI files missing from Attorney General's Office

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) claimed on Monday it had
lost files relating to the misuse of and irregularities
concerning the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) scheme so
that it could not carry out any further investigations into the
case.

"The back-up files in the computer have either been lost or
been deleted, thereby causing difficulties for the investigators
to obtain evidence," Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes
Fachri Nasution said during a hearing with House of
Representatives' Commission II for legal affairs.

Fachri, who accompanied Attorney General M.A. Rachman to the
hearing, failed to give any further information regarding the
lose of the files due to short duration of the question-and-
answer session, during which 22 questions were posed by the
legislators.

Commission II Chairman Teras Narang later urged the Attorney
General's Office to submit a written explanation within the next
three days.

Responding to the reports on the lost files, Sidarto, a United
Development Party (PPP) legislator, said it was unbelievable that
such a thing could have happened.

"There must be someone to be held responsible for this
incident. Please, investigate this. This is like the work of a
mafia," he said.

In July, the Attorney General's Office sent four suspects in
the BLBI liquidity funds scandal to Salemba penitentiary. They
were Kaharudin Ongko, Leonard Tanubrata, Samadikun Hartono and
David Nusa Wijaya.

Ongko and Leonard were accused of misappropriating about Rp
7.7 trillion of the liquidity loans from Bank Indonesia when they
were president director and assistant chief commissioner
respectively of PT Bank Umum Nasional (BUN), while a former
commissioner of Bank Modern, Samadikun, is implicated in the
misuse of Rp 80.7 billion of emergency funds.

David, the other suspect, who is a former director of PT Bank
Umum Servitia, has been implicated in the misuse of Rp 1.3
trillion of the liquidity funds.

Besides the BLBI case, the hearing also revealed that the
Attorney General's Office would soon start working together with
the office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare to
cope with the case of seven foundations linked to former
president Soeharto.