Loan disbursement not discussed: Baramuli
Loan disbursement not discussed: Baramuli
JAKARTA (JP): Former Supreme Advisory Council (DPA) chairman
A.A. Baramuli, has denied any involvement in the Bank Bali
scandal, although he has acknowledged he was engaged in several
meetings with some business associates and banking officials.
Baramuli told a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on
Monday that the meetings did not discuss measures to accelerate
the bank's loan disbursement from the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
"I have met with those individuals several times, but we never
discussed the disbursement of the bank's loan from IBRA," he said
during the trial of Djoko S. Tjandra, an executive at PT Era Giat
Prima (EGP), the main defendant in the bank scandal.
He did not specify any names, but he was likely referring to
Central Bank Governor Sjahril Sabirin, then state minister of
investment and state enterprises development Tanri Abeng, then
IBRA deputy chairman Pande Lubis, former deputy chairman of Bank
Bali Firman Soetjahja, PT EGP executives Djoko S. Tjandra and
Setya Novanto and businessman Marimutu Manimaren.
Baramuli, Marimutu and Setya Novanto are actively involved in
the former ruling Golkar Party.
Baramuli insisted that the meetings, which were held last
year, were only ordinary meetings.
"I met and received a lot of people at my home, including
those figures, but we didn't talk about the disbursement of the
loans," he said in the hearing, presided over by Judge Soedarto.
He denied that he attended a Feb. 11 meeting last year at
Hotel Mulia in Central Jakarta, which was organized by defendant
Djoko.
"I didn't attend the meeting since I was at my DPA office
until late afternoon," he said.
Baramuli accused Firman Soetjahja of having bad intentions
toward state officials when the latter testified in the previous
hearing that Baramuli, Sjahril, Tanri, Pande Lubis, Setya Novanto
and Djoko attended the Feb. 11 meeting.
"From his statement, it's likely Firman was devising a ploy to
ruin state officials' good names," he said.
In the previous court hearing, Sjahril also denied attending
the Feb. 11 meeting.
Another witness, Marimutu Manimaren, however, rejected
Baramuli's testimony, saying that there were several meetings
held to discuss the disbursement of not only the Bank Bali loans,
but also other bank loans to IBRA.
"The meetings were held several times from May to June last
year in the houses of Tanri, Baramuli and former finance minister
Bambang Subianto," said Manimaren, who is also an executive of
the diversified Texmaco group of companies.
Manimaren also touched on Tanri's alleged involvement in the
scandal, saying that Tanri reportedly sought Rp 300 billion
(US$35.2 million) out of the total Bank Bali interbank loans of
Rp 1.7 trillion.
"In a meeting, Tanri said he would receive a Rp 300 billion
commission if all the interbank loans could be disbursed," he
said.
"But the scandal erupted in the media before the deal was made
a reality."
Djoko, however, denied Manimaren's accusation, saying that
Tanri had never intended to seek a commission from the loan
disbursement.
"We discussed the problems of KONI (the National Sports
Committee) during the meetings, but not interbank loans," he
said.
Tanri is a former chairman of the Indonesian Lawn Tennis
Association (Pelti).
The scandal centers on the transfer of Rp 546 billion from the
bank to PT EGP. The money was paid as a commission for the
company's assistance in recouping Bank Bali's some Rp 904 billion
in interbank loans on closed banks under the supervision of IBRA.
(asa)