Police begin Bank Bali probe

JAKARTA (JP): National Police started investigations into the Bank Bali scandal on Monday, questioning four of eight people allegedly involved in the controversial US$80 million deal.

The four were Bank Bali directors Rusli Suryadi, Firman Soetjahja, and Henri Kurniawan, and the bank's legal division manager Irvan D. Gunawan.

Lawyers representing the four defendants said their clients came to the National Police Headquarters for preliminary questioning.

"Police detectives asked my client about his job description and authority in the decision-making process," Trimedya Panjaitan, a lawyer defending Rusli Suryadi, told reporters at the police headquarters.

He said the police asked his client 16 questions, mostly regarding the deal between Bank Bali and PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) in which a Rp 546 billion commission was paid to help the bank recoup Rp 904 billion in interbank claims on closed banks.

Trimedya said Rusli had no idea about the appointment of EGP as a "broker" in the deal, but heard that former Bank Bali president Rudy Ramli and EGP director Djoko S. Chandra had made a deal to recover the outstanding loans.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar said separately that the police named the four Bank Bali officials as suspects while the investigation was underway.

"If we find no evidence against them, their status will automatically be reverted to witnesses," Togar said.

Other suspects in the case are Rudy Ramli, EGP chairman Setya Novanto and director Dj Djoko Chandra, and Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) deputy chairman Pande Lubis. (emf)