Court dismisses Sjahril's lawsuit against Marzuki
JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court dismissed on Monday the lawsuit filed by inactive Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin against Attorney General Marzuki Darusman for wrongful detention.
"The court feels all the steps the attorney general took to ensure a smooth investigation into the Bank Bali scandal were correct. This includes the arrest of the plaintiff," presiding judge Rusmandani said during the court hearing.
"The court adds that it cannot admit as evidence transcripts of certain taped conversations concerning the possible intimidation of the plaintiff by the attorney general, because they are legally impaired," the judge said.
Sjahril said during an earlier hearing he had been pressured by Marzuki into either resigning as Bank Indonesia governor or being declared a suspect in the Rp 546 billion Bank Bali scandal.
"I was really pressured. Whatever is in the taped conversations between myself and the attorney general, it's all true," Sjahril said. "I just could not resign."
The earlier hearing was held to allow Sjahril, who currently is being held at the Attorney General's Office as a suspect in the Bank Bali case, to testify in the lawsuit he brought against Marzuki for wrongful detention.
Sjahril's lawyers, led by Mohammad Assegaf, presented transcripts of three taped conversations between Marzuki and their client dated March 1, March 2 and May 29. The lawyers said the transcripts showed Sjahril was given two choices: resign or be declared a suspect in the Bank Bali case.
Rusmandani, however, ordered the tapes not be played in the courtroom, only allowing transcripts of the conversations to be read.
Assegaf told the South Jakarta District Court last Tuesday the detention of his client since June 21 was unwarranted. "The entire time Pak Sjahril has been in detention, he has only been questioned twice. What is the reason for detaining him?"
Marzuki, who was not present at the hearing last Tuesday, has said he followed all existing procedures and that Sjahril was detained as a suspect to facilitate a fair investigation.
The Bank Bali scandal began when three private banks failed to repay Rp 904 billion in debts to Bank Bali, with the debts remaining outstanding when the three banks were closed down in late 1998.
Bob Hasan
In another case, the spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Yushar Yahya, announced on Monday the arrest status of timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan had been changed to house arrest on Saturday, following the completion of investigations into two corruption cases allegedly involving Hasan's enterprises.
"The first case has been handed over to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office and will be brought to trial soon. Prosecutors are still working on the dossiers of the second case," he said.
Hasan, who briefly served as the minister of industry and trade under former president Soeharto, had been detained at the Attorney General's Office since March 28, when he was named a suspect in a graft case which allegedly caused some US$75.62 million in losses to the state and some $168 million in losses to the Indonesian Forest Concessionaires Association.
The case centers on a government project to map Indonesia's forests. The project was awarded to Hasan's company, PT Mapindo Parama.
Yushar said his office would bar Hasan from traveling overseas, including to the congress of the Asian Amateur Athletics Association in Thailand in November. (ylt/bby)