Nasrudin questioned over scam

JAKARTA (JP): Former Junior Minister of Finance Nasrudin Sumintapura said after an interrogation at the Attorney General's office over the weekend that he had never been in charge of supervising Bapindo, the directors of which now under custody for alleged involvement in a loan scam.

Nasrudin denied that it was his main task to supervise state- owned companies, including Bapindo. He was a junior minister when the $430 million in credit was approved and disbursed between 1989 and 1992,

Nasrudin is the third top government official who has been questioned by prosecutors in relation with the current investigation of the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$620 million) loan scam.

According to the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, A. Sutomo has been booked as witness in the case. Sutomo is the former minister who is now a member of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA).

DPA chairman Sudomo was questioned on April 15 while J.B. Sumarlin, former minister of finance and now chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency, was questioned last Thursday.

Nasrudin, dressed in a dark-blue safari shirt, arrived at the Attorney General office in a burgundy Mitsubishi Eterna sedan at 8:15 a.m. He has been linked to pressure that was put on Bapindo's board of directors to speed up an approval for the loans to businessman Eddy Tansil, who is currently in Attorney General's custody as the main suspect in the case.

Five former Bapindo executives are now being detained at the Attorney General jail on charges of corruption. They are Subekti Ismaun, Towil Heryoto and Sjahrizal, all former bank presidents, Bambang Kuntjoro, a former director, and Maman Suparman, former Bapindo Jakarta deputy manager.

Nasrudin submitted a written statement last month in response to written questions from the Attorney General's Office. Earlier reports said Sudomo and Sumarlin put pressure on the board of directors to grant credit to Eddy.

Carbon copy

"As long as I can remember, I received the carbon copy of Sudomo's recommendations to Bapindo's directors twice," Nasruddin said, adding that he forgot their contents.

He said as a citizen, who has the same rights and obligation before law, he will be ready to attend the court session on the case as a witness.

The former junior minister refused to go into details about his links with the case.

"I will not answer your questions whether I have received bribes for extending the credit or whether I did approve additional loan for Eddy Tansil on June 2, 1992, since I will be testifying in court at a later date." Nasrudin said.

He also refused to answer reporters' questions about which prosecutor had questioned him and how many questions the interrogator asked.

A. Sutomo, deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, accompanied Nasrudin when he was answering newsmen's questions. He said there were about 60 persons who had been questioned in relation with the corruption case so far.

He said Nasrudin's testimony will be used to support the charges on the six suspects. (02)