House to summon banking authorities

House to summon banking authorities

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives will summon
Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto, Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) chairman Glenn S. Yusuf and Bank
Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin on Thursday to disclose their
findings in the Bank Bali scandal.

"We'll summon the banking authorities on Sept. 2 to disclose
their audit results," House member Ichsanuddin Noorsy said on the
sidelines of a seminar on banking.

"If they refuse to meet us, they can be charged with contempt
of the legislature," said Ichsanuddin, a member of the Golkar
Party.

Ichsanuddin said the meeting was scheduled based on a request
made by the three officials during an Aug. 20 hearing with House
Commission VIII for banking and the state budget for two weeks to
investigate the scandal.

Australia-based PricewaterhouseCoopers is completing its audit
verifying IBRA's internal audit of the Bank Bali case. The
foreign company is also auditing the central bank under a special
agreement with the Supreme Audit Agency.

A senior official at the central bank said on Monday
PricewaterhouseCoopers was expected to complete its audit of Bank
Indonesia on Tuesday.

"They started their audit on Friday afternoon and continued
working on Saturday and Sunday," the central bank official said.

The Bank Bali case centers on the transfer of Rp 546 billion
(some US$80 million) from Bank Bali to PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), a
private firm owned by businessmen linked to the ruling Golkar
Party. The money was paid to EGP for its service in helping Bank
Bali recoup interbank claims on closed Bank Dagang Nasional
Indonesia (BDNI).

IBRA has insisted Bank Bali should not have used the service
of EGP because the interbank claims were assured through the
government's blanket guarantee program.

There have been allegations the commission paid to EGP was to
be used to help finance Habibie's presidential bid.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose party won the June
general election with 34 percent of the vote, is seen as
Habibie's main rival in the November presidential election.

Although the Rp 546 billion has been returned to Bank Bali,
the public is demanding the government investigate all those
involved in the case and take legal action against those who
broke the law.

Some experts have voiced concern the Habibie administration is
trying to portray the scandal as merely a civil case and prevent
influential people from being implicated.

Minister/State Secretary Muladi read out last week a statement
from former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli denying the existence
of a personal diary documenting his meetings with several senior
ministers and Habibie associates ahead of the transaction with
EGP.

PDI Perjuangan lodged a complaint with the National Police
against Rudy the day after this statement was read out, accusing
Rudy of being a liar.

The party's lawyer, Amien Haryoso, said Rudy voluntarily
showed him the diary when Rudy asked him to serve as his counsel.

There is speculation Rudy was pressured by the Habibie camp to
deny the existence of the diary, alleged copies of which were
given to journalists two weeks ago.

Detained

Separately, Indonesian Bar Association deputy chairman Sudjono
and the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) faction in
the House, Zarkasih Nur, demanded Rudy be detained to prevent him
from tampering with any evidence of his involvement in the
scandal.

"Since Bank Indonesia deputy governor Soebarjo Joyosumarto has
said the central bank has found enough evidence to pronounce Rudy
a suspect in a banking crime, he should be detained to expedite
the investigation," Sudjono said on Monday.

Sudjono and Zarkasih stressed the importance of quickly,
transparently and satisfactorily resolving the scandal in order
to free the economy from negative market perception.

They said Rudy's denial of the existence of a diary he
voluntarily showed to PDI Perjuangan two weeks earlier, provided
strong reason to detain him to prevent his tampering with
evidence linking him with the scandal.

The Bank Bali scandal, which some have compared to the
Watergate case which toppled United States president Richard M.
Nixon in the late 1970s, has become a serious threat to Habibie's
presidential bid.

An economist at Gadjah Mada University, Sri Adiningsih,
doubted the government could satisfactorily resolve the Bank Bali
scandal.

She said the government tended to localize the issue and
refused to include independent investigators in the case.

In a related development, the police on Monday questioned EGP
president Setya Novanto over the scandal. The questioning of
Setya was delayed as police awaited Habibie's permission to
interrogate Setya. This authorization was necessary because Setya
is a member of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"There were several questions to which Setya did not give
direct answers or answered in a roundabout manner. Otherwise, he
appeared quite calm," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar
Sianipar told The Jakarta Post.

Togar said the police were still waiting for written
permission from the central bank to open Setya's bank account.
(rei/har/ylt)