New loan audit won't affect criminal process

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Finance Minister Boediono guaranteed on Tuesday that a new audit on the abuse of US$13 billion of Bank Indonesia emergency loans would not put an end to criminal investigations.

He said the new audit would only determine the proportion of burden that the government and Bank Indonesia each must shoulder.

" The legal process on the misused funds will carry on," Boediono said during a hearing between the government and the House of Representatives Commission IX on finance and state budgets.

"The results from the new audit will not undermine previous findings in any way," he added.

Separately, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced Tuesday that it had recruited 50 prosecutors from around the country to speed up investigations into the misuse of the funds.

AGO spokesman Muljohardjo was quoted by Antara as saying that the newly-recruited prosecutors would first focus their investigations into the channeling of the loans to 11 banks.

The banks, since closed by the government, are Bank Jakarta, Bank Umum Majapahit, Bank Kosa Graha Semesta, Bank Baja Citra Hasta Dana, Bank Manunggal, Bank Upindo Baja Internasional, Bank Dwipa Semesta, Bank Dana Hutama, Bank Papan Sejahtera, Bank Sewu Internasional, and Bank Putra Surya Perkasa.

Muljohardjo also said that the cases against three former directors of Bank Indonesia responsible for channeling the loans, namely Hendro Budianto, Paul Sutopo, and Heru Supraptomo, were currently being built.

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) revealed last year that some Rp 138.4 trillion (around US$13 billion) of the total Rp 144.5 trillion Bank Indonesia loans -- channeled to banks facing massive runs at the peak of the country's 1997 financial crisis -- had been misused by the banks for currency speculation, lending to affiliated companies and buying assets. The loans were only supposed to pay depositors of banks facing runs. The agency blamed it on the weak supervision of Bank Indonesia.

A separate investigation conducted by a House of Representative-appointed special team confirmed the BPK findings.

A huge chunk of the loans had been channeled to banks owned by businessmen close to the family of former president Soeharto.

But so far none of those responsible for the massive abuse have been charged let alone put behind bars.

Following the BPK findings the government initially declined to cover the loans putting Bank Indonesia at the risk of bankruptcy. It was only after intensive lobbying facilitated by leaders of the House commission IX that the government agreed in November last year to cover most of it, leaving Bank Indonesia with the obligation to only cover some Rp 24.5 trillion of the loans. But the agreement was not yet final.

The new plan to appoint an independent auditor initially raised concerns that it would lead to an end to the criminal investigation.

During the hearing, legislators questioned the government's seriousness in combating corruption cases, arguing that the previous investigations should have given the government a clear picture as to who was responsible.

"There is a strong tendency that the government is lacking the courage to resolve the matter," legislator Rizal Djalil said during the hearing.

"The data revealed by the previous investigations should be more than enough to resolve the case."

Another lawmaker Sukowaluyo Mintohardjo concurred, saying: "The existing data should be enough to be taken into consideration for the government to take actions."