Ex-BI directors won't escape jail: AGO
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.