Dossiers prepared on Bank Bali suspects

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office filed on Friday a dossier on four suspects in the high-profile Bank Bali scandal to the South Jakarta District Court, only two days after legislators elected a new president.

The four suspects are businessmen and bankers Henry Kurniawan, Firman Soetjahja, Rusli Suryadi and Rudy Ramli.

The four suspects are charged with allegedly counterfeiting banking data which violated Chapter 49 of Banking Law No. 10/1998 and Chapter 55 of the Criminal Code.

For the violation, the suspects could be punished with a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in jail.

"We are still waiting for the dossiers of two other suspects in the case, namely Setya Novanto, an executive of the Golkar Party, and businessman Djoko Sugiarto Chandra," Lukman Bachmid, head of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, said.

The two are executives of PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), which allegedly received Rp 546 billion from Bank Bali as a commission fee for its help to recoup some Rp 904 billion in interbank loans on closed-down banks.

Five of the six named suspects have been detained by the police since late September for their alleged role in the Rp 546 billion scandal. Police have argued that the five were detained only for "investigative purposes".

But Setya refused to be held by police on the grounds that he is a legislator and police had to first obtain permission from the President before sending him to police jail.

Djoko is still being detained at National Police Headquarters.

Lukman said his office had to first complete the indictment by questioning five other witnesses as required by regulation.

Witnesses include former minister of finance J.B. Sumarlin, Tonny Sugiri, Irfan Gunardwi, Ermin Riyanto and IN Suwandi.

"We have set up a team of prosecutors which represent the state during the trial sessions of the four suspects," he told Antara.

The team members are prosecutors Andi Rahman, Y.W. Mere and Johnny Ginting, he said.

Henry Kurniawan, Firman Sutjahya and Rusli Suryadi are currently being detained at Cipinang State Penitentiary, while Rudy Ramli was being treated for illness at Kramatjati Police Hospital, he said.

There are allegations that the Bank Bali scandal is linked to some of former president B.J. Habibie's close aides, such as former chairman of Supreme Advisory Council A.A. Baramuli.

The government said Bank Bali should not have used the services of EGP because the loans were guaranteed by the government. (asa)