Ficorinvest directors changed with BLBI graft
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Another corruption trial related to the alleged misappropriation of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support Fund (BLBI) began Monday at the South Jakarta District Court with two defendants from the now-defunct Bank Ficorinvest standing trial.
Supari Dhirdjoprawiro, the former president director of the bank, and S. Soemeri, the bank's director, are charged with allegedly misusing Rp 319 billion (about US$37.1 million) of the fund in 1998.
If found guilty, they could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Supari, 65, and Soemeri, 59, were responsible for the illegal BLBI disbursement by Bank Ficorinvest between January and March of 1998, chief prosecutor R.W. Koloway said in the indictment.
"The defendants have allegedly abused their authority by allowing the disbursement of the BLBI funds to speculate on foreign exchange and to lend it to private clients," Koloway said.
In fact, the central bank disbursed Rp 144.5 trillion in liquidity support to 48 commercial banks in a bid to overcome possible bankruptcy during the economic crisis in 1998 and 1999.
However, some 95 percent of the fund was used in a corrupt manner for personal gain by the bank owners, according to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
In the past two years, the Attorney General's Office has implicated a handful of bank owners and central bank officials in the case, but few have actually been convicted or sentenced.
Among those who have been convicted were Bank Aspac's owner Hendrawan Harjono and Bank Umum Servitia's David Nusa Wijaya who were each given one-year jail terms.
David was ordered to repay Rp 1.27 trillion to the state, while Hendrawan was ordered to pay only Rp 500 million in compensation despite being found guilty of deliberately embezzling Rp 583.4 billion of the BLBI fund.
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced BHS Bank's president Hendra Rahardja to life imprisonment, but he was tried in absentia as he now lives in Australia. The extradition process is still going on, but authorities are not confident that he will serve time back here.