Ex-bankers tried in multitrillion rupiah graft case
Ex-bankers tried in multitrillion rupiah graft case
JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court began the
trial against two former top officials of the now-defunct Bank
Umum Nasional for allegedly misusing money from Bank Indonesia
Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds.
Prosecutor Andi Rachman Asbar told the court that Leonard
Tanubrata, 52, a former president of BUN, and Kaharuddin Ongko,
64, a former deputy commissioner of the bank, had misappropriated
the liquidity support from Bank Indonesia causing losses to the
state of over Rp 1.7 trillion (about US$1.5 billion) and over
US$435 million.
He said that the defendants violated Article 1 paragraph 1a of
Anticorruption Law No. 3/1971, which carries a maximum punishment
of life imprisonment. The defendants were also charged with
violating Article 49 of Law No. 10/1998 on banking. Violation of
the law carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
"The defendants, along with Mohammad Hasan, the then chief
commissioner of the bank, allegedly siphoned off funds from
November 1997 to April 1998 to enrich themselves and their
company groups at the expense of the state," he told the court.
Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, a timber tycoon, is now behind bars in
the Nusakambangan Island off Central Java after he was sentenced
to two years in jail early this year for manipulating US$75
million in forestry funds.
Andi said that Bank Indonesia gave over Rp 6.7 trillion in
BLBI funds to BUN to be used to settle the bank's liquidity
problems.
However, the defendants manipulated the funds for their own
purposes even though Bank Indonesia had warned the bank three
times in January 1998.
The judge adjourned the trial for a week.
After the monetary crisis hit the country in August 1997, Bank
Indonesia assisted troubled banks by providing liquidity support
funds a month later.
It was alleged that as many as 48 banks that received the
funds had manipulated 95 percent out of the Rp 144.5 trillion
funds for their own interests. However, only a few of the cases
have gone to court.
Modern
On Monday, a former president of PT Bank Modern, Samadikun
Hartono, went on trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on
charges of misappropriating over Rp 169 billion in BLBI funds.
According to the indictment, Samadikun failed to manage Bank
Modern well, since he and his family were involved in the bank's
management, which later brought the bank into financial problems.
Separately, the court also tried former officials of Bank
Harapan Sentosa (BHS) Hendra Rahardja, Eko Edi Putranto and
Sherny Konjongian, without the presence of the defendants, who
are still at large.
The three were believed to have misused Rp 2.659 trillion.
In the first liquidity support manipulation case, Hendrawan
Haryono, the former deputy director of Bank Aspac, was acquitted
from corruption charges in June. He was sentenced to one year in
jail and was ordered to pay a Rp 500 million fine or serve
another three months imprisonment for violating banking laws.(04)