Police confirm Sjahril, Ary Suta, Cacuk, Toto corruption suspects
Sandy Darmosumarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After days of confusion over the legal status of Sjahril Sabirin, I Putu Gede Ary Suta, Cacuk Sudarijanto and Toto Budiarso, National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said on Thursday that the four had been declared suspects in the Account No. 502 graft case.
Mappaseng said the four would soon be questioned for their roles in the alleged misuse of Rp 20.9 trillion (US$2.4 billion) from the government account, dispelling further confusion in the legal status of former Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin, former Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPB) chairmen Cacuk Sudarijanto and I Putu Gede Ary Suta, and former IBRA deputy chairman Toto Budiarso.
"The interrogation will not be conducted until next week, maybe Monday, because of the approaching weekend. Besides, a regulation gives suspects three days to respond to their summons," he said Mappaseng. The summons were sent on Wednesday.
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office had announced on Sunday that Sjahril and Suta had been declared suspects in the high-profile scandal, but National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar contradicted the office on Monday, saying that the investigation was still underway and the two had not been declared suspects.
Cacuk and Toto were only recently linked to the case when a letter of investigation was sent to them last week. Similar notification letters were sent to Sjahril and Toto in August.
The scandal centers on the misuse of government funds deposited in Account No. 502 at Bank Indonesia (BI). The account was intended to cover the financial obligations of banks closed down at the height of the 1997-1998 financial crisis.
However, BI and IBRA, the only institutions with access to the account, had allegedly used part of the funds to finance recapitalization programs for national banks, notably Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII).
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) suspected that the central bank had manipulated Rp 17.76 trillion, while IBRA had allegedly manipulated Rp 3.14 trillion from the account. Both institutions have denied the allegations.
In a separate development, Mappaseng challenged Maria Pauline Lumowa to prove her innocence in a bank scandal by coming to Indonesia and submitting herself to the due process of law.
"Maria is not acting professionally. She should come back to Indonesia .. not just talk from abroad," he said.
Maria, an Indonesia-born Dutch citizen now living in Singapore, is the main suspect in a Rp 1.7 trillion (US$210 million) scandal involving state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).
Her company, Gramarindo, has been accused of issuing Rp 1.7 trillion in bogus letters of credit to BNI. Some of her business associates have been declared suspects and are in police custody.
While insisting upon her innocence in the scandal, Maria has refused to travel to Indonesia for police questioning.
The National Police have rejected her request to question her in Singapore.
Indonesia has no extradition agreement with Singapore.