Experts give new insight to Bank Bali scandal in court

JAKARTA (JP): A banking expert said on Thursday that factoring firm PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) had the legal right to manage the funds recovered from the liquidated Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI).

"According to a March 29, 1999, agreement, PT EGP redelegated the authority given earlier by Bank Bali to it to recover Bank Bali's borrowed funds from BDNI," banking expert Sutan Remy Syahdeni told a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court presided over by Judge Soedarto.

"The agreement also stated that all recovered funds would be credited to PT EGP." he said.

The district court heard testimonies from Sutan, who was brought in by the team of defense lawyers led by O.C. Kaligis, and criminal law expert Loeby Luqman, who was brought in by prosecutor Antasari Azhari, in the ongoing trial of Djoko S. Tjandra.

Djoko, an EGP executive, is the main defendant in the Rp 546 billion Bank Bali scandal.

Former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli testified in a previous hearing that Djoko and another EGP executive, Setya Novanto, a treasurer of the then ruling Golkar Party, had offered their assistance through PT EGP to recoup Bank Bali's funds, which had been borrowed by liquidated private banks, including Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI).

According to the prosecutors, prior to carrying out the assignment, Bank Bali agreed to give Djoko and Setya a commission worth 546 billion, more than half of the Rp 904 billion interbank loans guaranteed by the government.

After the commission had already been given to them, the two redelegated the task to Bank Bali, prosecutors have charged. After the scandal broke out, PT EGP returned the Rp 546 billion to Bank Bali.

Rosa Agustina Pangaribuan of the University of Indonesia's school of law, who testified as an expert, told the same court on Tuesday that since PT EGP was given Rp 546 billion as commission for assisting Bank Bali in recovering the funds, it became "the duty of PT EGP to actively help recover the funds, including those belonging to BDNI."

"Instead, the company redelegated the authority to Bank Bali to recover the borrowed funds from BDNI."

Rosa said that since Bank Bali never made any formal statement against the irregularities and the cessie contract was never terminated, "the contract is, by all means, legal."

Quoting articles 1320, 1338 and 1340 of the Civil Code, she added that the handover of the Rp 546 billion commission and PT EGP's decision to redelegate the authority to Bank Bali to recoup the funds was also legal.

In the January 1999 cessie contract between PT EGP and Bank Bali it is also stated that PT EGP must pay hundreds of billions of rupiah worth of saleable documents as collateral to Bank Bali by the given deadline of June 11 last year.

The collateral has still not been paid.

Defense lawyer Purwani asked Sutan whether paying the collateral was necessary. "That is a must. It is stated in the contract, so the payment must be made, at whatever cost," he replied

Purwani said that in a previous hearing witness Siti Halimah Fajriah, who was in charge of monitoring Bank Bali's financial division, said she had reported that Bank Bali had failed to report the January cessie contract to the central bank (BI).

"If this (the failure of Bank Bali to report the contract) is legally wrong, then where is the legal protection our (Indonesian) law offers for the firm which made the cessie contract (with PT EGP)?" she asked.

Sutan replied that it was not PT EGP's fault.

"BI does not have the legal reach to rebuke PT EGP ... besides it is not the fault of EGP here, but BI can 'punish' Bank Bali," Sutan said.

Before Sutan was questioned, Loebby Luqman, who was called in by Antasari to testify against Djoko, told the hearing that he had made a mistake during police questioning by stating that "it was weird" for Bank Bali to have paid a Rp 546 billion commission to PT EGP to recoup Rp 904 billion worth of interbank loans.

"I was only called once for police questioning. Had I been called twice, I would have admitted my mistake," he said.

"Later, I learned via various channels that during that time the nation was going through such dire economic conditions, it was, in fact, normal for Bank Bali to pay Rp 546 billion as commission to any firm for the recouping of loans." (ylt)