Ex-BI directors won't escape jail: AGO
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) pledged on Tuesday that three former directors of Bank Indonesia convicted of corruption would serve their sentences.
Spokesman for the office, R.J. Soehandoyo, said they had slapped a travel ban on the former central bank directors Hendro Budiyanto, Heru Supraptomo and Paul Sutopo Tjokronegoro, which is valid until April 20, 2006.
"We hope the immigration people will be able to watch out for them," Soehandoyo explained.
The Supreme Court recently delivered a verdict to uphold the ruling of the Central Jakarta District Court, which convicted the three former BI directors of embezzling BI liquidity funds (BLBI) meant for bailing out banks in the wake of the 1998 economic crisis.
Quoting a source, Koran Tempo daily reported that a panel of justices presided over by Chief Justice Bagir Manan upheld the verdicts but reduced their sentences to 18 months in jail each.
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Heru and Hendro to three years and Paul for two and a half years.
The Jakarta High Court revoked the lower court's ruling completely and acquitted the three, citing a lack of evidence and insisting that the case was not a crime.
Soehandoyo said, however, that the verdict could not be executed yet because the prosecutors had not yet received a copy of the verdict from the Supreme Court.
"Only after we obtain the copy can we execute the verdict (and bring them in)," Soehandoyo said.
A Supreme Court's verdict is binding, although a convict is still allowed to seek a judicial review of his or her case as the last resort to prove innocence.
There have been dozes of cases in recent years, in which convicted people benefited from the sluggish bureaucratic procedures and escaped justice by simply leaving the country.
Two high-profile examples were the escape of David Nusa Wijaya and Sudjiono Timan, who were also convicted in the BLBI graft case, before the prosecutors managed to execute the Supreme Court's verdict last year.
The misuse of the BLBI funds caused state losses of more than Rp 137 trillion (approximately US$14.4 billion). Unfortunately, law enforcement authorities here have failed to properly address the issue, with many of the suspects given straight acquittals or very lenient sentences.
Embezzlement of the BLBI funds were first disclosed by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in May 1999.
The government provided the emergency bail-out money -- up to Rp 144.5 trillion -- from August 1997 to early 1999 to assist 48 commercial banks, which collapsed during the monetary crisis.
However, the audit agency found that 95 percent of the banks misappropriated the funds.