Pande admits ordering payment of Bank Bali funds

Pande admits ordering payment of Bank Bali funds

JAKARTA (JP): Former deputy chairman of the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) Pande Nasorahona Lubis testified on
Wednesday that he had ordered Bank Indonesia to disburse Rp 904
billion (US$82 million) of IBRA's funds to Bank Bali.

Pande testified before the Central Jakarta District Court,
which is hearing the case against Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril
Sabirin, that he was simply following orders from former finance
minister Bambang Subianto.

"On June 1, 1999, the minister of finance asked my colleague
Farid Harianto, who was acting chairman of IBRA, to proceed with
Bank Bali's claim. He (the minister) phoned Farid three times.
Farid then asked me begin the necessary steps with Bank
Indonesia," he said.

Pande's statement, however, contradicts Bambang Subianto's
testimony at an earlier trial in which he said he did not approve
Bank Bali's claim because "it did not fulfill the requirements
stipulated in the joint agreement between IBRA and Bank
Indonesia's board of directors."

Prosecutors then asked the panel of judges to summon Bambang
in the next hearing to cross-check his statements with Pande's.
However, the judges, turned down the request to summon Bambang,
saying the court would rather hear testimonies from the other
witnesses.

When questioned by prosecutors, Pande admitted that he
personally went to Bank Indonesia to present the letters ordering
the central bank to disburse Rp 904 billion of IBRA's funds to
Bank Bali.

Prosecutor Jan Merre and presiding judge Soebardi then asked
Pande why he, as the second man at IBRA, personally delivered the
letters to Bank Indonesia when he could have asked a courier to
it.

Pande said he delivered the letters himself because he was
told by Farid Harianto to do so.

In addition, Pande said he wanted to ensure Bank Bali's claim
would be attended to immediately as "the International Monetary
Fund had insisted in the letter of intent that any liabilities of
defunct banks to a third party must be settled by the government
by the end of May, 1999."

The Bank Bali corruption scandal centers on the repayment of
loans extended by Bank Bali to three defunct private banks --
Bank BDNI, Bank Tiara and Bank Umum National. The government took
over the third party liabilities of closed banks at that time.

Pande was a suspect in the Bank Bali corruption case, but was
acquitted by the South Jakarta District Court in November.

Later, however, five IBRA executives testifying at Sjahril's
trial implicated Pande as one of the masterminds in the
corruption scandal as Pande had insisted on processing the claims
even though Bank Indonesia had refused to disburse the money to
Bank Bali.

Sjahril is being tried for allegedly ordering one of his
directors, Erman Munzir, sometime between February 1999 and June
1999, to disburse the money to Bank Bali.

Judge Soebardi adjourned the trial until July 4 to hear
testimonies from other witnesses. (02)