KONI claims chief Wismoyo not mixed up in scandal

JAKARTA (JP): After conducting its own three-day investigation, the National Sports Council (KONI) claimed on Thursday that its chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar was not involved in the Bank Bali scandal, as was alleged in a national weekly tabloid.

KONI spokesman Ahmed Solihin said that an investigation team headed by KONI vice chairman Arie Sudewo found that PT Gelora Raya Dian Abadi, the company allegedly connected with Wismoyo, was not registered as a company at the Ministry of Law and Legislation.

"PT Gelora Raya Dian Abadi is not registered in the ministry. Our officials from the legal commission double checked other sources on Tuesday. The sources confirmed the fact," he told reporters in a media briefing on Thursday.

He said the company might exist having been legalized by a notarial act, but it had never been listed formally at the ministry.

"There are so many notary offices and we can't check them one by one. The company is not recorded in the ministry, so we can't get further information on it," he said.

Wismoyo's name appeared in a front page report on the Bank Bali scandal in the Nov. 2 edition of DeTAK weekly tabloid. The paper said the company was jointly owned by Siti Hediati Prabowo, popularly known as Titiek Prabowo, former president Soeharto's daughter and Wismoyo, who is Soeharto's brother-in-law.

The company was mentioned in the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, which was publicly released by the government, without stating who the owner or the executives were. It reportedly received some Rp 100 billion (US$14.5 million) in installments from June 23 to Aug. 18.

The money was reportedly transferred by Arung Gauk Jarre, an associate of former state minister of the empowerment of state enterprises Tanri Abeng, and deposited in its Lippo Bank account.

Angered by the report, Wismoyo appointed Arie on Monday to lead a team consisting of KONI officials from the media, promotion and legal commissions, to verify the existence of the company.

Ahmed said that DeTAK managing editor AS Laksana visited Wismoyo on Wednesday afternoon to clarify the report. Wismoyo, a retired four-star general, said on Wednesday night that the paper had apologized for its report.

"We confirmed with DeTAK because it was the first paper which mentioned Wismoyo's name and linked him to the Bank Bali scandal. Wismoyo asked Laksana the source of his data and he was told that it came from a photocopied report which was distributed in the House of Representatives," he said.

A member of KONI's legal commission Haryo Yuniarto, who was also present at the briefing, said he visited the House on Thursday morning to verify the nature of the three-page report.

"The photocopied report is not valid because it was not approved by the House's secretary-general or any of the House's commissions," Haryo said.

Haryo, however, refused to name his sources in either the ministry or the House.

"We won't name any of them. All we can say is that we have used formal ways in our investigation," he said.

Ahmed said that KONI would not sue the tabloid.

"We will not sue the tabloid because it has apologized to us and pledges to publish the apology in its next edition. DeTAK will explain the source of its report and state that the information is not valid. It's enough for us," he said.(ivy)