IBRA exec confirms Hotel Mulia meetings

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.