NGOs rebuke WB for softening against bank scam
NGOs rebuke WB for softening against bank scam
JAKARTA (JP): Non-governmental organizations lambasted the
World Bank on Saturday for softening its stance on the
administration of President B.J. Habibie over the high profile
Bank Bali scandal.
Revrisond Baswir of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian
Development (INFID) said the World Bank had decided not to
investigate the involvement of Habibie's close associates in the
scandal.
The World Bank claimed that because of its status as an
economic institution it could not "enter the political field" of
the Bank Bali case.
"The Bank said that it will be satisfied with the completion
of (an independent) financial and legal audit of the case," he
told reporters following a meeting with World Bank senior
officials at INFID's headquarters.
World Bank vice president for East Asia and the Pacific Jean-
Michel Severino, the Bank's country director for Indonesia Mark
Baird, and three other staff members attended the meeting.
Revrisond said it was clear that the World Bank as well as
other multilateral institutions like the International Monetary
Fund and the Asian Development Bank will agree to a compromise
resolution with the Habibie administration over the Bank Bali
scandal.
"The World Bank and other multilateral donors will be involved
in the high-level compromise talks," he said.
He explained that a satisfactory resolution to the Bank Bali
scandal could not be reached without "touching" the political
aspects of the case because of strong evidence of the involvement
of Habibie's inner circle.
The public is expecting external pressure particularly from
the World Bank and the IMF to help force the Habibie
administration to thoroughly investigate all the influential
people involved in the scam, including taking tough legal
measures against them.
"The World Bank, IMF and ADB must also be responsible for the
Bank Bali case," Revrisond said.
INFID executive secretary Binny Buchori said the Bank has
shown that it was not serious when it threatened the government
last week to suspend aid disbursement if it failed to swiftly and
satisfactorily resolve the scandal.
"The Bank told us that the Bank Bali case can't prompt them to
indefinitely suspend aid disbursement (to Indonesia)," she said.
"Baird even said that his earlier threat was only meant to
push the government to resolve the case swiftly and
satisfactorily," she added.
Baird issued the threat on the sidelines of a seminar on the
Indonesian economy last week.
But Severino said in Singapore on Sunday Indonesian
authorities have given the go-ahead to PricewaterhouseCoopers to
audit Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank.
Severino added that President B.J. Habibie's government will
also make a statement on the progress of the investigation at the
House of Representatives on Sept. 4.
He reiterated the World Bank stand that all non-project loans
will be halted if the investigations aren't settled in a
transparent manner.
Binny added that the Bank would be satisfied if the
independent financial audit and legal audit of the Bank Bali case
were completed.
Revrisond said the World Bank and other donor institutions do
not really care whether the influential people involved in the
scandal would be punished or not.
He said that the primary mission of the multilateral
institutions in this country was to maintain their existence here
to preserve the business interests of their "capitalist
financiers".
The Bank Bali scandal revolves around the transfer of some Rp
546 billion from Bank Bali to EGP as a "commission" fee for the
latter's services in helping the bank recoup interbank claims on
closed down Bank BDNI from the government.
The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) has said that
Bank Bali should not have used the services of EGP because the
interbank claims are guaranteed through the government blanket
guarantee program.
There has been increasing evidence of the involvement of
several Cabinet ministers and President B.J. Habibie's close
associates in pushing Bank Bali to use the services of EGP.
There have been allegations that the Bank Bali funds were to
be used to help finance Habibie's presidential race in November.
But the money was returned two weeks after the case was revealed
to the press in late July.
The Habibie camp has been trying to nullify the evidence. A
controversial statement was made by former Bank Bali president
Rudy Ramli last week denying the existence of a personal diary
said to be his and containing a chronology of his successive
meetings with several senior ministers and Habibie's close
associates in the run-up to the Bank Bali transaction with EGP.
Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi issued on Thursday
copies of Rudy's denial statement to reporters after a Cabinet
meeting.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
lodged a complaint on Friday with police against Rudy in
connection with his denial statement.
"That is a blatant lie, since I have his account. Rudy gave it
to me voluntarily when he came for legal help on Aug. 11 and
asked me to be his lawyer," said Amien Haryoso, deputy head of
the legal department at PDI Perjuangan's research and development
division.
"Rudy has practically written a diary on the whole process of
the transaction, from beginning to end," he said.
There is speculation that Rudy was pressured by the Habibie
camp to sign the denial. (rei)