House delays hearing on Bank Bali scandal

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives made a surprise decision on Tuesday to delay for another week a scheduled public hearing with the country's banking authorities over the disclosure of the high-profile Bank Bali scandal.

Critics said the move was simply buying time for efforts to cover up the scandal, in which close associates of President B.J. Habibie are allegedly implicated.

House leaders gave unclear explanations for the delay of the Sept. 2 hearing session in which Finance Minister Bambang Subianto, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin, and chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Glenn S. Yusuf were to give their findings in the scandal.

Lili Asdjudiredja, deputy head of House Commission VIII on banking and the state budget, said Bambang and Sjahril asked on Monday in two separate letters to the House for a delay, saying the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) needed another week to complete its audit of the Bank Bali case.

"The hearing session is delayed because the BPK audit has yet to be completed," he told reporters before attending a closed meeting of House faction leaders on the scandal.

Lili said the House decided to delay the hearing session with Bank Indonesia to Sept. 8, and to Sept. 14 with the finance ministry and IBRA.

But BPK chief Satrio B. Yudono said earlier on Tuesday that the agency had already completed the audit with the assistance of international auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"We were ready to submit the audit results to the House today, but this morning we received a letter from the House giving us more time, until Sept. 7," he told reporters at his office.

House deputy chairman Hari Sabarno sent a letter dated Aug. 31 to BPK saying: "In order for the Bank Bali case to be completely revealed at the hearing session, we expect to receive the audit result at the latest on Sept. 7, 1999."

The House earlier asked BPK to complete its audit by Aug. 31.

Hari confirmed he had sent the letter, but failed to explain why the House decided to extend the BPK audit deadline.

He said only that he signed the letter because he was told to.

He added that he was unaware of the letters from Bambang and Sjahril.

The Bank Bali scandal revolves around the alleged illegal transfer of Rp 546 billion (about US$80 million) from the bank to PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a commission fee for helping the bank recoup interbank claims on closed-down banks guaranteed by IBRA, which is under the Ministry of Finance.

The fund transfer was leaked to the press in late July, causing public anger and shaking the local financial market, particularly as more evidence pointed to the involvement of Habibie's inner circle in the scandal.

EGP is a company owned by two businessmen linked to Habibie's loyalists in the government and to the ruling Golkar Party.

There are allegations that Habibie's camp was trying to raise funds through EGP's transactions with Bank Bali to help finance Habibie's presidential race in November.

Although the money has been returned, there have been public calls for the prosecution of influential people involved in the scandal.

Outspoken Golkar legislator Ichsanuddin Noorsy criticized House leaders over the delay.

"People now question the commitment and seriousness of the House leaders to uncover the Bank Bali scandal," he said, pointing to the Aug. 20 demand by House Commission VIII to immediately investigate the scandal and dismiss all ministers and high-ranking government officials involved.

"The delay has further strengthened speculation that there's a political conspiracy to reach a compromise resolution," he added.

Dubbed Baligate, the scandal is seen as a major obstacle to Habibie's campaign for the November presidential election.

Lili, also a Golkar legislator, dismissed Ichsanuddin's concern.

"The delay is a technical matter. We don't have suspicions that the delay is meant to buy time or is a cover-up strategy," he said.

"The investigation continues despite the delay," he added.

BPK's Yudono conceded.

He said the public should not worry, saying that the more time given for the investigation process, the better the result would be.

Asked to comment on concerns that he was a Habibie loyalist, Yudono said: "You just wait and see. BPK is now different to what it used to be in the past."

"It's true that I'm close to Habibie. But the conditions are now different. Habibie has stayed for quite a long time overseas so he values independence," he said.

"It's now really different to what it used to be in the past, when BPK should first see the president before reporting to the House," he added.

The Bank Bali scandal has turned into a political battle between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Habibie's so-called presidential election "success team".

State Secretary and Minister of Justice Muladi last week circulated a copy of statements from former bank Bali president Rudy Ramli denying the existence of a diary containing the chronology of his successive meetings with several ministers and Habibie's top aides before the bank's transaction with EGP.

A diary said to be Rudy's was circulated among the press by PDI Perjuangan. The party said Rudy handed over the diary after asking a party executive to be his lawyer.

A source said Rudy was under pressure from the Habibie camp to deny the existence of the diary.

"Rudy was accompanied by his lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution to see Habibie at his place on Aug. 20," the source said. (rei)