House suggests firing of senior government officials

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives special investigative team will recommend President B.J. Habibie fire or make nonactive several senior government officials it concluded were involved in the Bank Bali scandal.

"We'll recommend the dismissal of certain senior government officials," the head of the investigative team, Lili Asdjudiredja, said outside a closed-door meeting.

He declined to identify the officials or even say how many officials the team would recommend be dismissed.

"We're still debating this," he said, adding that the closed- door meeting could go late into the night before a final consensus was reached.

Lili did say the team would recommend dismissal for officials who had not been named suspects in the case by the police.

The House is scheduled to approve the investigative team's final findings at a plenary session on Friday.

The House formed the 23-member team late last month to investigate the high-profile Bank Bali scandal, which allegedly involves several influential people close to Habibie.

Team deputy Erwin Syahrir said the team would recommend action be taken against three ministers found to be involved in the scandal.

"We still have to decide what action we will recommend. It can be suspension or something else," he said.

Erwin said the team was having difficulty coming to a consensus on certain issues, particularly on what actions it would recommend be taken against government officials.

The Bank Bali scandal revolves around the transfer of Rp 546 billion (some US$80 million at the June exchange rate) from the bank to PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a commission to help the bank recoup Rp 904 billion in interbank loans on a closed-down bank.

The bank should not have used the services of EGP because the interbank loans were guaranteed by the government.

There have been allegations Habibie's inner circle used EGP to raise money to support Habibie's candidacy in the November presidential election.

The police so far have named 10 suspects in the case, including former senior management of Bank Bali, the owners of EGP, a Bank Indonesia official and two deputy chairmen of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, a unit of the finance ministry.

Former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli earlier indicated to the House the involvement of the head of the Supreme Advisory Council, Arnold A. Baramuli, and State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng.

Rudy admitted to House Commission VIII for banking and finance earlier in the month the existence of a journal describing meetings between Bank Bali management and several senior government officials and Habibie confidantes prior to the Bank Bali-EGP transaction.

Finance minister Bambang Subianto and Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin were also named in the journal, hinting at their prior knowledge of the transaction.

Lili said the final findings of the investigative team would be handed over to the police and attorney general.

"We expect the police to follow up on our findings," he said.

There has been increasing concern, however, over efforts to cover up the scandal.

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has refused to disclose the full results of an audit performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on transactions related to the scandal, despite pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the House.

BPK has cited the banking secrecy law, which prevents the public disclosure of personal bank accounts, as the reason for its refusal.

The complete PwC report contains the flow of funds from EGP to private bank accounts and names those believed to be involved in the scandal. Only the police have been given a copy of the complete report.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar Sianipar said the police would only use the PwC audit report as the basis of its investigation.

He said PwC tended to target certain people who may not have been involved in the scandal.

Sianipar also said the police would cross-check the PwC audit results with the results of a BPK audit on the same transactions.

He said the results of the BPK and PwC audits showed differences.

Separately, National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi said on Wednesday the dossiers of the 10 suspects in the scandal would be handed over to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Thursday. (rei/ylt)