Government declines to disclose audit result on bank scandal
JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita said on Monday that the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit result on the Bank Bali scandal could not be disclosed to the public because of a banking secrecy law.
"As a coordinating minister, I've spoken with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) on the matter," he told reporters following a meeting with economic ministers.
Ginandjar said that BPK sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to explain the situation.
"But until now, I don't know what their response is," he added.
The IMF has repeatedly asked the government to publicly disclose the complete version of the PwC audit result by handing it over to the Independent Review Committee, which is chaired by Mar'ie Muhammad. The fund has decided to delay the review of the country's economic program initially scheduled for the middle of this month, which also automatically delays the aid disbursement for Indonesia.
IMF said it would resume aid disbursement if there was a clear sign of a satisfactory resolution to the Bank Bali scandal. The World Bank has also made a similar threat.
Ginandjar said that the Bank Bali scandal has caused a "temporary" setback to the country's economic development as seen from the rupiah weakening from slightly above Rp 6,000 to the U.S. dollar before the scandal emerged to a current level of about Rp 8,000.
He said that the scandal had caused ministers to lose valuable time and delay several government projects.
PwC was asked in August by BPK to audit Bank Indonesia in relation to the Bank Bali scandal. The audit report was completed on Sept. 8. But at the request of BPK, PwC made two audit reports: a short form and long form.
The condensed report, which was basically a summary, was disclosed to banking authorities and the House of Representatives and was widely circulated among journalists.
But the full report, which contains the flow of funds in the Bank Bali scandal, was only given to the police.
The IMF and a House special investigation team have demanded the disclosure of the full report to reveal the influential people involved in the scandal.
BPK has insisted that the full report can only be given to the police and attorney general according to an existing banking secrecy law and Law No. 5/1973 on BPK, which stipulates that any BPK audit result indicating a crime must only be submitted to the two institutions.
BPK chief Satrio B. Yudono said that violators of the BPK law risk a six-year jail term.
The Bank Bali scandal revolves around a payment of Rp 546 billion by the bank to politically connected PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a commission fee to help the bank recoup Rp 904 billion in interbank loans on a closed bank.
Bank Bali was not supposed to use the services of EGP because the interbank loans were guaranteed by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) under the government blanket guarantee program.
There have been allegations that EGP was used by the inner circle of President B.J. Habibie to help raise money for political purposes ahead of the upcoming November presidential election.
PwC said in its summary report: "Despite limited access to information and a limited two-week time frame, PwC has uncovered numerous indicators of fraud, noncompliance, irregularity, misappropriation, undue preferential treatment, concealment, bribery and corruption during the process and payment of the Bank Bali claims."
"PwC recommends that an additional investigation be conducted regarding the potential involvement of numerous individuals and companies in circumstances surrounding the Bank Bali matter.
"These individuals include ministers, senior government officials, members of the legislature, political party officials and prominent members of the business community," PwC added.
The international auditor also said that it was forbidden by the central bank to probe into certain personal bank accounts due to the banking secrecy code.
"PwC recommends that the fund tracing exercise be completed to fully understand what has happened."
In a related development, law expert Loeby Loekman said on Monday that Bank Indonesia should be provided with an exception to breach the banking secrecy code in light of the "public interest" to disclose the personal bank accounts of the influential people allegedly involved in the Bank Bali scandal.
"There must be an exception if there's clear and present danger," he said at a discussion on banking secrecy codes at the central bank headquarters.
Loeby, however, said that there could be a long debate on the definition of "public interest".
Another law expert, Marjono Reksodiputro, urged Bank Indonesia to ask the Supreme Court for guidance on this matter, which could be followed by the lower court.
"But under the Indonesian civil law system, the lower court could always deviate from the guidance of the Supreme Court," said law expert Sutan Remy Sjahdeni. (rei)