House to decide on PwC report
House to decide on PwC report
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives (DPR) appointed its
legal and banking commissions to decide whether to publish the
full PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on its audit of the
transactions relating to the Bank Bali scandal.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said the two commissions would
thoroughly study the PwC audit report and debate the legal and
political implications of fully disclosing the report, which is
believed to implicate a number of influential businesspeople,
senior government officials and politicians.
"The commissions will submit their recommendations and the DPR
leadership will then make a decision," Akbar said during a media
conference following a meeting of House faction leaders.
Akbar said all of the faction leaders agreed that the Bank
Bali case should be handled in a transparent manner as demanded
by the people.
However, Akbar said a number of legislators opposed the
disclosure of the full audit report, while others maintained
disclosing the PwC report would not necessarily violate the
banking secrecy code because it was in the public's interest.
"These disparate views developed during the meeting," he said.
The Bank Bali scandal centers on the dubious transfer of some
Rp 546 billion (around US$80 million) from the bank to a private
firm owned by businessmen linked to former president B.J.
Habibie's Golkar Party.
Asked about the case's impact on Golkar, party chairman Akbar
said Golkar was ready to provide clarifications to the
commissions.
The PwC report also alleges that Rp 15 billion of the money
involved in the scandal was transferred directly to the Golkar
team in charge of Habibie's election campaign.
Many observers point to the Bank Bali case as one of the main
factors behind Habibie's failed presidential bid.
The Habibie administration declined to publish the full PwC
audit report despite pressure from the public, the previous House
and the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF, the World Bank and several other major creditors have
suspended loan disbursements to the country until the government
satisfactorily resolves the Bank Bali case, including disclosing
the complete PwC audit report.
The Habibie administration argued that disclosing the full
audit report would violate the country's banking secrecy code,
because the report contained information on private bank
accounts.
Days before the Oct. 20 presidential election, the Supreme
Court issued a legal opinion supporting the release of the PwC
report to the House. The Supreme Audit Agency handed over a copy
of the full report to the House last week.
The previous House, which ended its term last month, completed
an investigation of the Bank Bali scandal and alleged that
several senior government officials were directly or indirectly
involved in the affair.
Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin said on
Monday he would support the disclosure of the complete PwC audit
report.
"We don't have any problems with that," he said following a
meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Sjahril also defended the government's decision to take over
the management of Bank Bali following the failure of its owners
to raise in cash 20 percent of the cost of recapitalization by
the government-set deadline.
He said Bank Bali was taken over instead of being shut down
because it had a large number of depositors.
After taking over the bank, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency asked Standard Chartered Bank to comanage Bank Bali. The
UK-based bank also is committed to buy up to a 20 percent stake
in Bank Bali, Sjahril said.
"So everything is according to regulations," he said.
Former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli has filed a lawsuit at
the Jakarta State Administrative Court against Bank Indonesia,
charging the central bank with discrimination in allowing
Standard Chartered to enter Bank Bali without allowing the former
management team to look for alternative investors.
Rudy is now in police custody pending trial for his role in
the scandal.(rei/prb/rms/05)