Thu, 19 Oct 2000

Former BI chief Sjahril to go on trial quickly

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office will soon submit the dossier on suspended Bank Indonesia (central bank) governor Sjahril Sabirin to the Central Jakarta District Court, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Andi Syarifuddin, assistant prosecutor for special crimes, said Sjahril was charged with ordering the reimbursement of a Rp 904 billion (US$101.5 million) interbank loan guaranteed by the government in a move which has become known as the Bank Bali scandal.

The state prosecutors found that Sjahril had given an order between February and June of last year to his subordinates to reimburse the loans using the government's bailout money despite the fact that the central bank had yet to verify the money market transactions between Bank Bali and three defunct private banks -- Bank BDNI, Bank Tiara and Bank Umum Nasional. The three banks had earlier defaulted on their debts.

"Sjahril is accused of having violated Paragraph 1.a of Article 1 of the 1971 Corruption Law," Andi told journalists at his office after receiving the dossier and evidence from the Attorney General's investigators.

Article 1 of Law No. 3/1971 carries a maximum life sentence and a fine of Rp 30 million.

Andi also said that his office had extended Sjahril's house arrest status for another 20 days effective from Oct. 18 until Nov. 6, 2000. The previous house arrest order imposed by the investigators expired on Wednesday.

"We will file the case with the district court before Sjahril's current term of house arrest ends," he said, adding that the prosecutors would present 43 witnesses and one expert from the office of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP).

The dossier was submitted by investigators Yan W. Mere and Joko Widodo from the Attorney General's Office, along with evidence consisting of the financial reports of the trading and investment firm PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) and documents belonging to the central bank and the Indonesia Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

The case centers around the failure of the three defunct banks to repay a total of Rp 904 billion to Bank Bali.

Bank Bali subsequently signed a cessie contract with PT EGP to help recoup the interbank loans and paid Rp 546 billion as commission to the firm for its' assistance.

However, PT EGP instead delegated its authority to Bank Bali to recoup the funds itself.

Nevertheless, it is widely believed that a meeting in a hotel on Feb. 11 last year, which was reportedly attended by Sjahril, PT EGP executives, Bank Bali executives and several people affiliated to the Golkar Party expedited the reimbursement of the funds which were then held by IBRA.

The case has also implicated several others, including PT EGP's director Djoko S. Tjandra and IBRA's deputy chairman Pande Lubis.

Pande's trial is underway in the South Jakarta District Court. The same district court exonerated Djoko of all corruption charges last month due to errors in the indictment.

Separately, Sjahril said he had yet to think about the trial or any subsequent sentence, claiming he was innocent.

"If the trial is fair, I'm sure that the court will find that I'm not guilty.

"I was not involved in the case and I have no idea about the scandal," he told journalists before leaving the prosecutor's office. (bby)