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.