Ex-Bank Bali president called a liar

Ex-Bank Bali president called a liar

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) lodged a complaint on Friday at the National Police
Headquarters against Rudy Ramli in connection with an earlier
statement in the media that he never kept account of the
questionable Bank Bali transaction or those involved in the
scandal.

"That is a blatant lie since I have his account. Rudy gave it
to me voluntarily when he came for legal help on Aug. 11 and
asked me to be his lawyer," said Amien Haryoso, deputy head of
the legal department at PDI Perjuangan's research and development
division.

"Rudy has practically written a diary on the whole process of
the transaction, from beginning to end."

Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi said on Thursday
that former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli sent a statement to
President B.J. Habibie denying the existence of a diary
containing a chronology of his successive meetings with senior
ministers and Habibie's close associates in the lead-up to the
Bank Bali scandal.

Muladi distributed the copies of Rudy's statement of denial to
reporters following a Cabinet meeting on security and political
affairs.

Rudy said in the statement that he only told of a "fake
account due to pressure from PDI Perjuangan".

Rudy reportedly claimed that pressure came from Maj. Gen.
(ret.) Suhartoyo, who is currently deputy head of the human
resources department at the party's research and development
division.

Rudy claimed that Suhartoyo had kidnapped him.

Amien said that he had no idea who kidnapped Rudy, but it was
certainly "not Suhartoyo," who accompanied Amien to the National
Police Headquarters.

"We come to the police not only to lodge a complaint but also
to submit the account and other information Rudy gave us," Amien
said.

When asked if he was still a defense lawyer for Rudy, Amien
said that he was "thankfully fired since Rudy is a big liar".

Rudy's diary identifies the following figures involved prior
to and during the process of the illegal Bank Bali transaction:
Businessmen Djoko. S. Chandra and Setya Novanto, deputy chairman
of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Pande Lubis,
Bank Bali director Firman Soetjahja, Bank Indonesia Governor
Sjahril Sabirin, Head of the Supreme Advisory Council A.A.
Baramuli, State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises
Tanri Abeng and Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto, tycoon M.
Manimaren, Hariman Siregar and Habibie's younger brother Suyatim
"Timmy" Habibie.

PDI Perjuangan issued a statement to the media last week of
the involvement of senior ministers and Habibie's inner circle in
the Bank Bali scandal.

The scandal revolves around the transfer of Rp 546 billion
(about US$73 million at current rate) of funds from Bank Bali to
private firm PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a commission for its
service in helping the bank recoup some Rp 904 billion ($135
million at current rate) in interbank claims on closed-down Bank
BDNI from IBRA.

EGP is a company owned by Djoko and Setya, both affiliated
with Habibie's Golkar Party.

IBRA insisted that Bank Bali should not have used EGP's
service because the interbank claims were guaranteed through the
government blanket guarantee program.

Although the missing funds were returned by EGP, the public,
the House of Representatives and the international community have
demanded all people involved in the scandal should be legally
processed because a crime was committed.

The Habibie administration is facing increasing pressure from
the public, the House and international community to take strong
legal action against all the culprits implicated in the scandal.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the House demanded
an independent investigation should be made to trace the flow of
funds from Bank Bali to other bank accounts to check who were the
people involved in the case.

The World Bank country director for Indonesia, Mark Baird,
warned the government earlier in the week to resolve the Bank
Bali scandal quickly and "satisfactorily," or it would suspend
its budgetary support to the government.

The fund's Asia Pacific director, Hubert Neiss, also told
reporters on Thursday that the IMF would take strong action
against an unsatisfactory resolution of the scandal.

The fund is organizing a US$43 billion bailout fund to help
finance the country's economic programs.

Separately, Budhy Tjahjati, the deputy for international
cooperation at the National Development Planning Board
(Bappenas), said on Friday that there was no doubt that
multilateral institutions would stop financial support to
Indonesia if the resolution to the scandal was far from
expectation.

She said that the government must take the threat from the
World Bank and IMF seriously.

She also said that the government should seriously start
thinking of alternative sources of financing in anticipation of a
possible suspension of either World Bank or IMF loans.

"But the most important thing to understand is that the threat
was made to push us (the government) to move quickly to resolve
the Bank Bali case," she told reporters after a meeting with
representatives of donor institutions.

In a related development, sources at the National Police said
police investigations of the case had so far concluded that Bank
Indonesia executives were "in the clear". (rei/ylt)