Habibie rebuffs call to suspend aides

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)