Five-year jail term sought for ex-Aspac official

JAKARTA (JP): In the first trial involving the misuse of Bank Indonesia's credits, the prosecution asked the South Jakarta District Court on Monday to sentence Hendrawan Haryono, the former credit director of the now defunct Bank Aspac, to five years in prison for embezzlement.

Prosecutor Sutyanto said in his indictment the defendant caused the state Rp 538 billion in losses through the misappropriation of state funds channeled to the bank.

The second suspect in the case is Hendrawan's brother Setiawan Haryono, the bank's former president. Setiawan will be tried separately by the same court.

Hendrawan stands accused of illegally allocating some of the liquidity funds the bank received from Bank Indonesia to speculate in the foreign exchange market and to finance the operations of several corporations affiliated with Bank Aspac.

"The defendant, along with his brother, violated Article 1 of the 1971 law on corruption and Article 49 of the 1998 central bank law on corruption," the prosecutor said in his indictment.

The prosecutor also asked the court to order the defendant to return the money to the state and to pay a Rp 38 million fine.

Hendrawan was briefly detained by the Attorney General's Office in April last year, and was then placed under house arrest.

State prosecutors have filed suits against several banks over the alleged misappropriation of some of the Rp 144.5 trillion Bank Indonesia channeled to 48 banks between 1997 and 1999 to increase the liquidity of these banks.

The liquidity support funds, known as BLBI, were supposed to only be used to reimburse depositors after massive runs hit the banking industry. But some banks had allegedly used the funds for other purposes, including to bail out debt-ridden companies in their groups.

The Bank Aspac case is the first to come to trial.

The Attorney General's Office has also filed civil lawsuits with the Central Jakarta District Court against Bank Pelita, Bank Istimarat, Bank Deka and Bank Centris.

Judge Hirman Purnakusuma adjourned the trial until next Monday, at which time the court will hear from the defense.

Meanwhile, Setiawan's trial remains pending due to the defendant's health problems.

Setiawan is currently being treated at the Mitra Keluarga Hospital in Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

"The case against Setiawan will soon be filed with the South Jakarta District Court," Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo said. (bby)