Court acquits former BPUI president of graft charges

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In another blow to Indonesia's weak anti-corruption movement, the former president director of state-owned company PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia (PT BPUI) was acquitted Monday of charges relating to causing losses of US$240.9 million to the state.

In the South Jakarta District Court, Presiding Judge I Dewa Gede Putra Jadnya said prosecutors had shown that defendant Sudjiono Timan had committed all the transactions as stated in the prosecutors' charges.

"(However) he had not breached existing regulations and, therefore, the case should be discharged," Jadnya, a senior judge who often handles high-profile graft cases, said.

Last year, he acquitted Zainal Abidin, a former Supreme Court official, who was accused of receiving Rp 100 million (US$11,100) in bribes.

He was also a member of the panel of judges who decided in 2000 that former president Soeharto was too ill to stand trial for corruption.

In another case, he found Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra not guilty of graft relating to a land swap deal with the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Tommy was later sentenced to 18 months in jail by the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the judge, at the conclusion of the 11-month hearing, discharged Sudjiono and ruled he was not required to pay the court's administration fee of Rp 7,500 (around US 85 cents).

Chief prosecutor Boediman Rahardjo said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.

The prosecutor earlier demanded Timan be jailed for eight years and pay the state Rp 1 trillion in compensation for disbursing the money while he was president director from 1994 to 2001 to several companies who were not qualified to receive the funds.

PT BPUI is a company under the central bank, Bank Indonesia, responsible for channeling funds to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Under Timan's management, PT BPUI developed state-owned brokerage firms Bahana Securities and Bahana Arta Ventura.

The companies which received the funds included Kredit Asia Finance Limited owned by business magnate Hashim Djojohadikusumo and Festival Company Inc. belonging to Agus Anwar. Both Hashim and Agus are Timan's close friends.

Timan had also approved the disbursement of Rp 263 billion in PT BPUI's investment funds (RDI) to both companies and Virgin Islands-based PT Penta Investment Limited, a fictitious company jointly established by Timan and timber tycoon Prajogo Pangestu.

But the panel of judges, also comprising Abdul Kadir and Syamsu Ali, found that Timan had not violated PT BPUI statutes, Law No. 1/1995 on limited liability company, Law No. 3/1971 on anticorruption as well as the Government Regulation No. 18/1973 on state capital injection for private companies which aims to develop the country's businesses.

They underlined three crucial points that had freed Timan: no regulations had been violated because there was no stipulation on the requirement for the fund disbursement; no warning from any incumbent ministers of finance when such transactions took place; and because Timan's annual reports were always accepted by the shareholdesr at the shareholders' general meeting (RUPS).

Prosecutor Boediman questioned the last point. "Actually the stakeholders only accepted what was in the paper. But there were things that were not reported at the meeting," he told reporters, adding that he would include the argument in his appeal.

However, he refused to explain why the prosecutors did not use Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) audit results of the company in his arguments, saying that he had to study the ruling first before commenting.

The investigating prosecutors have named Prajogo, Agus, and several PT BPUI directors as well as former minister of finance Ali Wardhana, who served as president commissioner of the BPUI board of commissioners between 1994 and 2001, as suspects in the same case. None have been charged.