Case dismissed against ex Bank Bali bosses

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court decided on Wednesday to discontinue the hearing of the high-profile Bank Bali cessie contract case, saying that the prosecutors' indictment was unclear, vague and unacceptable.

The judges also annulled the city arrest status of the four defendants -- former president Rudy Ramli, his two former deputies, Firman Soetjahya and Henri Kurniawan, and former bank director Rusli Suryadi.

"The prosecutors failed to clearly explain in detail the roles of the four defendants in their indictment," presiding Judge Soedarto told the court in a preliminary hearing.

In the indictment, the prosecutors accused all the defendants of failing to record or to disclose the Jan. 11, 1999 cessie contract between publicly listed Bank Bali and PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) in violation of Article 49 of the 1992 Banking Act, which was amended in 1998.

Under the deal, Bank Bali pledged to pay EGP Rp 546 billion (US$78 million at current rate) as a commission fee for the latter's effort to collect Rp 904 billion in interbank loans on closed down Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI).

However, the deal became a politically charged scandal after revelations in late July that EGP, owned by well-connected businessmen, used political influence to collect the claims, which were guaranteed by the Indonesia Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA). EGP returned the commission fee two months after its payment in early June.

Soedarto said the defendants did nothing wrong because the cessie contract was annulled by IBRA on Oct. 15.

In their indictment, the prosecutors charged the defendants with violating Article 49 of the Law on Banking, which defines a defendant as purposely omitting or neglecting to book a transaction. Violation of this article carries a jail term of up to 15 years and a maximum fine of Rp 200 billion.

Prosecutor Andi Rahman Absar from the Attorney General's Office said he would either file an appeal with the Jakarta High Court or change the indictment to revive the case.

Soedarto's decision was warmly greeted by the four defendants, their lawyers and hundreds of Bank Bali employees, who have supported their former bosses since the trial began on Nov. 11.

While three of the defendants can relax, Rudy will face corruption charges currently being prepared by the Attorney General's Office.

About two weeks ago, the office spokesman, Soehandojo, named Rudy, IBRA deputy chairman Pande Lubis and EGP executives Setya Novanto and Djoko S. Tjandra as suspects of alleged corruption related to the Bank Bali scandal.

The Attorney General's Office has yet to announce the latest progress of their investigation on the corruption case.

Separately, Rudy filed a lawsuit with the Jakarta State Administrative Court in mid-November against the governor of Bank Indonesia for the latter's decision to hand over the management of Bank Bali to the Standard Chartered Bank.

Rudy's lawyer, LLM Samosir, said the takeover was against the law since the move was never discussed with Bank Bali's management and shareholders.

Anticorruption activists have said that Rudy Ramli was made a scapegoat, asserting that the government should instead focus on senior officials implicated in the scandal.

Although independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers' investigations into the case found indications of the possible involvement of several ministers and senior officials, only the former bank directors have been charged in court. (asa)