Ministers implicated in Bank Bali scandal
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the front-runner in the June elections, accused on Thursday one of President B.J. Habibie's younger brothers, four Cabinet ministers, two ruling Golkar party leaders, and five businessmen of being directly involved in the US$78 million Bank Bali scandal.
PDI Perjuangan said in a statement that three other senior government officials and a close confidante of the President were also involved directly in what it termed criminal economic subversion.
"We have collected evidence, which beyond any reasonable doubt incriminates government leaders of the highest level in the scandal," the statement said.
PDI Perjuangan, which is tipped to lead the new government, said it gathered the evidence by verifying documents and interviewing people connected to the fraud.
"We now possess complete and accurate information on concrete facts describing where and when the suspects met and what they discussed and agreed to commit," it said.
The party urged the National Police and the Attorney General's Office to set up an independent investigation team to thoroughly deal with the criminal case in a transparent manner.
"This team should include not only reputable legal experts of high integrity but also representatives of the political parties which won plurality in the June elections but which are not implicated in the scandal."
PDI Perjuangan said the repayment of the Rp 546 billion allegedly pillaged from Bank Bali should not in any way affect legal proceedings against those incriminated in the crime.
Separately, Bank Bali confirmed on Thursday that the whole sum (Rp 546 billion) had been transferred into an escrow account at the bank under the joint control of Bank Indonesia and Bank Bali.
It said Rp 122.2 billion of the fund was transferred to the escrow account on Aug. 16, Rp 174.9 billion on the morning of Aug.18, Rp 142.2 billion in the late afternoon of Aug. 18 and the remainder on Aug. 19.
PDI Perjuangan, whose chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri is seen as a leading presidential candidate, said most of the people involved in the scandal were members of what is popularly known as the Success Team, tasked with securing the election of B.J. Habibie in the November presidential election.
It is really a great tragedy that those entrusted by the people to fight corruption, collusion and nepotism (known by the local acronym KKN) have deliberately and blatantly breached the order of the People's Consultative Assembly for the eradication of KKN, the party said.
PDI Perjuangan said plundering such a huge amount of state funds at a time when millions of people live in dire poverty, millions of poor children cannot afford schooling, numerous companies are going bankrupt and unemployment has reached a critical level is not simply a criminal act but economic subversion.
The scandal, it added, has devastated the budding confidence in the crisis-hit economy and virtually nullified any economic improvements made so far.
" We demand Habibie's accountability and those involved in the scandal should be sentenced at a minimum to life imprisonment," the party said. (vin)