MPR speaker wants ex-banker put on trial

MPR speaker wants ex-banker put on trial

JAKARTA: People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Hidayat
Nur Wahid urged state prosecutors on Wednesday to ignore a
request from a suspect in the Bank Indonesia liquidity support
(BLBI) graft case to halt their investigation in exchange for the
return of embezzled state monies.

"We should not make him think that he can buy the law by
returning the money. The prosecutors should continue with the
case," Hidayat told reporters after a visit to the Attorney
General's Office.

One BLBI case suspects, former president director of
Bank Pelita Agus Anwar, offered to return nearly Rp 600 billion
(US$60 million) in state money he embezzled in 1998 plus interest
on the condition that his case was dropped.

Agus will have to be tried in absentia as he is currently in
hiding in Singapore. -- JP