Court hearing over Bank Bali scandal begins

JAKARTA (JP): The hearing into the Bank Bali corruption scandal began in the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday with the reading of an indictment against one of six defendants.

In front of some 40 people attending the session, prosecutor Ridwan Moekiat said Joko S. Tjandra, an executive of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) and the owner of the Mulia group, was involved in the disbursement of Bank Bali's interbank loans from a closed bank, an action that resulted in Rp 904 billion (some US$122 million) in losses for the state.

The state has already recouped the money.

"The defendant violated Chapter 1 of the 1971 Law on Corruption," the prosecutor said in the hearing presided over by judge R. Soenarto.

The article carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.

The five other suspects in the 1998-1999 scandal, which allegedly also involved several people who were high-ranking government officials at the time, were named by the Attorney General's Office as Pande Lubis, former vice chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA); Tanri Abeng, former state minister of state enterprises; Setia Novanto, president of EGP; Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli; and Erman Munsyir, an executive at Bank Indonesia.

According to Ridwan, Joko collaborated with several people, including four top government financial officials, in disbursing the loans.

The prosecutor named the four officials as Tanri Abeng, former Supreme Advisory Council chairman A.A. Baramuli, Pande Lubis and central bank Governor Sjahril Sabirin.

Ridwan, reading from a 63-page indictment, said the central bank in 1998 initially withheld approval for Bank Bali's request to be reimbursed for bad loans to a closed bank after Bank Indonesia learned the private bank had failed to meet several requirements, including missing the deadline for submitting its request to IBRA.

Joko and Setya Novanto, who together run EGP, the company which brokered the payment of Bank Bali's interbank claims from IBRA, along with Rudy Ramli, Bank Bali executive Firman Soetjahya and Pande Lubis agreed to persuade the top financial officials to help Bank Bali recover its money, Ridwan said.

The defendant, he continued, then took the initiative to approach the government figures and meet with them on Feb. 11, 1999, at Hotel Mulia Senayan in Central Jakarta.

The meeting, which discussed the disbursement of the interbank loans to Bank Bali, was attended by Joko, Sjahril, Tanri Abeng, Pande Lubis, Baramuli, Setya Novanto and Firman Soetjahya, the prosecutor told the courtroom.

At the meeting, which was led by Baramuli, it was proposed that Bank Bali executives compose a letter to the chairman of IBRA, asking his help in recovering its interbank loans, Ridwan read from the indictment.

Firman and Rudy wrote the letter, dated Feb. 12, or a day after the meeting, concerning Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI)'s bad loan to Bank Bali, the prosecutor said.

The defendant also attended several other meetings after May 1999 at Tanri's home, during which the technicalities of the loan disbursement were discussed, the indictment read.

Joko and Setya Novanto, who at that time was also the treasurer of Golkar Party, were paid Rp 546 billion through EGP for assisting Bank Bali in recovering Rp 798 billion in interbank loans from the closed bank, Ridwan said.

Several reports suggested the money paid to EGP was used to fund former president B.J. Habibie's run for the presidency.

The same court last year tried four Bank Bali executives -- Rudy Ramli, Firman, Henri Kurniawan and Rusli Suryadi -- for a cessie contract connected to the scandal.

The court discontinued the trial in December last year, saying the prosecutor's indictment failed to disclose in detail the role of the four suspects in the contract.

The judge on Wednesday adjourned the trial until next Monday. (asa)