Habibie rebuffs call to suspend aides
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie rejected on Friday the recommendation of the House of Representatives that he immediately suspend senior government officials implicated in the Bank Bali scandal.
Habibie said he would let the legal process determine the truth of the allegations against the officials before deciding on appropriate measures.
"Only based on court decisions will I take action according to the authority vested in me," he said in a speech during a farewell ceremony for outgoing House members at the State Palace.
Habibie acknowledged that a lawful and thorough resolution of the scandal was crucial to restore confidence in the economy and the bank restructuring program.
The House demanded earlier on Friday the immediate suspension of seven senior government officials for their alleged involvement in the scandal.
Head of the House special investigative team Lili Asdjudiredja said it concluded the seven officials were directly or indirectly involved.
"The President must immediately suspend the senior officials pending their prosecution," he said at a plenary session which approved the findings and conclusions of the special investigative team.
The officials are finance minister Bambang Subianto, chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Glenn S. Yusuf, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin, State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng, head of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) Arnold A. Baramuli, and two IBRA deputy chairmen Pande Lubis, and Farid Harianto.
The House also noted the suspected involvement of six others; former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli, two directors of the bank, Rusli Suryadi and Firman Soetjahja, and businessmen Joko Chandra, Setya Novanto and Kim Johanes Mulia.
Lili urged the police and attorney general to expedite the legal process.
"A thorough resolution of the Bank Bali case must be given top priority by the government and law enforcement," he said, adding that the House gave the government one month to fully resolve the legal process.
The police has named 10 suspects but none of the senior officials were among them. The dossiers of the suspects were handed over to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Thursday.
The scandal revolves around the transfer of Rp 546 billion from the bank to politically well-connected PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a commission to help the bank in recouping some Rp 904 billion in interbank loans on closed banks.
The bank was not supposed to use the services of EGP because the interbank loans were guaranteed by the government.
There have been allegations that Habibie's inner circle was using EGP as a front to bankroll his bid for the presidential election in November.
In a related development, International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus repeated on Friday the demand for the government to fully disclose the independent PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on scandal in order for the fund to resume aid disbursement to the country.
The IMF and the World Bank are withholding aid disbursement until there is a swift and satisfactory resolution in the scandal.
The Supreme Audit Agency has steadfastly refused to disclose the complete audit report, citing the bank secrecy law. The full report contains the flow of funds from the Bank Bali-EGP transaction to public figures. (rei/prb)