IBRA exec confirms Hotel Mulia meetings
JAKARTA (JP): Deputy chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Eko Santoso Budianto said on Tuesday that between February and March this year colleagues Pande Lubis, Setya Novanto, A.A. Baramuli, Tanri Abeng and Djoko S.Tjandra met at the Mulia Hotel.
"I often saw Lubis and his four friends meeting at the Mulia Hotel," Eko said after giving testimony to prosecutors at the Attorney General's Office.
The prosecutors are gathering evidence on corruption cases related to the Bank Bali scandal.
Former deputy chairman at IBRA Lubis and PT Era Giat Prima directors Setya Novanto and Djoko have been named suspects in corruption charges related to the Rp 546 billion payment made by Bank Bali in early June to Era Giat Prima as commissions for having its interbank claims reimbursed by IBRA.
Former Supreme Advisory Council chairman Baramuli, former state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises Tanri, the central bank's governor Sjahril Sabirin and former finance minister Bambang Subianto have been implicated in what was seen as acts of collusion and conspiracy to have Bank Bali's interbank claims promptly settled.
Bank Bali's former controlling shareholder and president Rudy Ramli and former director Firman Soetjahja earlier testified that the Mulia Hotel had been used as the main venue for meetings. They said the meetings discussed what they described as a high- level conspiracy to have Bank Bali's claims settled in return for a Rp 546 billion commission payment.
The fund scam became a highly politically charged scandal following allegations that a substantial portion of the payment went into a special fund to bankroll B.J. Habibie's presidential bid.
Firman and Rudy specifically cited a Feb. 12 meeting at the Mulia Hotel, in which they claimed Baramuli prodded Sjahril to expedite the settlement of Bank Bali's interbank claims.
However, the senior officials have flatly denied holding a meeting at the Mulia on that particular day.
IBRA and the central bank issued in mid-May a joint decree amending their previous ruling, so that Bank Bali's claims were settled on June 1.
Currently, only Bank Bali's interbank claims have been settled under the government guarantee scheme for bank deposits and claims. Many other banks have yet to have their claims on closed banks reimbursed by IBRA because the settlement process is being audited and the claims are still being verified.
Eko also pointed to irregularities in the process of amending the central bank-IBRA joint decree that allowed Bank Bali to have its claims settled.
"I was asked by Bank Indonesia to sign the decree (on behalf of IBRA) on May 17, but the decree was made retroactive on May 14," Eko said.
Not one suspect involved in the scandal, which prompted the IMF and World Bank to annul further loan disbursements, has thus far been sentenced in court.
The South Jakarta district court halted two weeks ago the trial of Rudy and three other former directors of Bank Bali on charges of banking crimes on the grounds that the prosecutors' indictment was too vague.