Convicted BI chief to skip IMF meeting
Convicted BI chief to skip IMF meeting
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin will skip the annual
meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington
this weekend, following the conviction in the Bank Bali scandal
last month that bans him from leaving the country.
"Sjahril has been placed under a travel ban; he will not go
this time," said Bank Indonesia spokesman Halim Alamsyah on
Wednesday.
Replacing him, he said, would be Bank Indonesia Deputy
Governor for international affairs Achyar Iljas.
The IMF gathering in Washington is set this week to attract
finance ministers and central bankers from around the world, as
the fund will spell out its view on the global economy, stretched
between the slowly recovering U.S. in the west and recession-hit
Japan in the east.
But for Indonesia, its central bank governor was sentenced to
three years in jail by the Central Jakarta District Court last
month.
Sjahril was found guilty of violating prudential banking
principles when he allowed the disbursement of Rp 904 billion
(about US$96 million) in Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
(IBRA) funds to Bank Bali in 1999.
The funds should not have been disbursed without the consent
of the Ministry of Finance.
Sjahril appealed against the verdict, and although convicted
and given a custodial sentence, continues to work as the central
banker.
Amid calls for his resignation, Sjahril refused to step down,
insisting he did no wrong, and that his status did not undermine
Bank Indonesia's credibility.
Legal experts said Sjahril was right in maintaining his post,
but noted that it would have been more ethical for him to resign.
Sjahril is not the only high-ranking official leading an
institution of integrity to have had criminal charges leveled
against him, seemingly without it affecting his position.
A week before Sjahril's conviction, House of Representatives
Speaker Akbar Tandjung was detained as a suspect in a graft case
involving funds of the State Logistics Agency.
Akbar denied any wrongdoing, and was released on bail earlier
this month with all his functions intact as House Speaker.