Ex-bankers at large, get life sentences for Rp1.51t graft
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While many corruptors have received light sentences, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced two former bankers to life on Wednesday for graft involving Rp 1.51 trillion (US$164 million), and ordered them to return the misappropriated money to the state.
Unfortunately, both defendants, Bambang Sutrisno and Adrian Kiki Ariwan, respectively the deputy commissioner and president director of the now-defunct Bank Surya, were being tried in absentia.
Bambang is reportedly in Singapore, while Kiki's whereabouts remain a mystery.
The verdict was the same as the prosecutors' had demanded last week after the defendants were found guilty of misusing the Rp 1.51 trillion in emergency loans under the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) scheme in 1997.
The two channeled the BLBI funds to 166 companies belonging to them, 69 of which turned out to be shell companies.
The bank, which was owned by Sudwikatmono, a relative of former president Soeharto, was closed down in 1998.
Reading out the verdict, presiding Judge Rukmini asked the prosecutors to carry out immediate execution by summoning the defendants through the media.
"The defendants have to repay the state losses and each pay fines of Rp 30 million or spend another six months in jail," she told the court, which was packed by reporters.
Execution could be another matter entirely as admitted by prosecutor Arnold Angkouw, who still has to consult his superiors in the Attorney General's Office regarding means of bringing back Bambang, who reportedly resides in Singapore and is in bad health, to Indonesia.
He admitted that prosecutors still don't know Kiki's whereabouts.
"We have ways," Angkouw said when reminded by reporters that Indonesia has no extradition agreement with Singapore, a fact which prosecutors said had blocked the investigation into business magnate Sjamsul Nursalim, who is suspected of misusing Rp 10.9 trillion in BLBI funds.
Earlier, the same court sentenced Hendra Rahardja of Bank BHS to life, while his two accomplices received 20 years in jail each for misusing Rp 2.7 trillion of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Credit (BKBI) and Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds. Execution has yet to take place as Hendra is still on trial in Australia for immigration offenses, while the whereabouts of the other two defendants remains unknown.
Several other defendants in BLBI cases who physically turned up for their trials, however, received light sentences, or were even acquitted.
Earlier this year, David Nusa Wijaya of the now-defunct Servitia Bank was sentenced by the West Jakarta District Court to one year in jail as he promised to repay Rp 1.27 trillion to the state. David, who has never been detained, escaped when prosecutors tried to execute the verdict.
Last year, the government lost its first legal battle against Hendrawan Haryono as the South Jakarta District Court acquitted Hendrawan, the former deputy director of the now-defunct Bank Aspac, of corruption. But he was sentenced to one year in jail for violating the banking law and was ordered to pay Rp 500 million in compensation, despite the fact that the bank had caused state losses amounting to Rp 583.4 billion due to BLBI misuse.
In August this year, the Central Jakarta District Court also acquitted the president of the now-defunct Modern Bank, Samadikun Hartono, of graft involving Rp 1.69 trillion. Previously, the prosecutors had lowered the stated losses to Rp 169 billion in the indictment. But, when they made their sentencing demand, the state losses were stated at only Rp 11.9 billion.
The central bank extended BLBI funds totaling Rp 144.5 trillion to 48 banks to help them cope with the economic crisis, but 95 percent of the funds were misused.