Ongko, Samadikun leave detention

Ongko, Samadikun leave detention

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office released on
Thursday businessmen Kaharudin Ongko and Samadikun Hartono, both
suspects in bank scams, from their detention and placed them
under house arrest instead.

The office's spokesman Muljohardjo said the two suspects were
discharged, pending their trials.

"State prosecutors handling their case deemed it was no longer
necessary to keep them in cells as the investigation into them
had been completed and sufficient evidence had been obtained,"
Muljohardjo told reporters.

Another suspect, former director of PT Bank Umum Servitia
David Nusa Wijaya, had served his house arrest since April 30.

Muljohardjo said that the three had been cooperative during
questioning and that all their bank assets were now in the hands
of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

The case centers on the alleged misuse of some Rp 138.4
trillion of the state liquidity support extended to their ailing
banks and another 45 banks during the bleakest period of the
economic crisis from 1997 to 1999.

Ongko is alleged of misappropriating Rp 12 trillion of the
liquidity loan when he was vice president of the PT Bank Umum
Nasional (BUN) board of commissioners, while the former
commissioner of Bank Modern Samadikun is implicated in the misuse
of Rp 766 billion of the emergency funds.

The three cases account for Rp 1.27 billion in state losses.

The liquidity support funds, known as BLBI, were supposed to
only be used to reimburse depositors after massive runs hit the
banking industry. But some banks had allegedly used the funds for
other purposes, including to bail out debt-ridden companies in
their groups.

Their exit left former directors of Bank Indonesia Hendro
Budiyanto and Heru Supraptomo as the only detainees in the
investigation into state liquidity loan scandals. (bby)