Police grill Sjahril over bank scandal

JAKARTA (JP): National Police investigators questioned Central Bank Governor Sjahril Sabirin on Tuesday over the Rp 546 billion (US$68.25 million at current rate) Bank Bali scandal.

When he arrived at police headquarters at 8 a.m. in his Volvo sedan, Sjahril was questioned as a witness in the scandal for about two hours without a lawyer present.

The governor said police investigators asked him many questions, including about a joint decree between the governor and Minister of Finance, and a meeting on June 1 which related to the Bank Bali case.

"The police asked me 18 questions. I gave answers to the best of my knowledge. I'm not in a position to answer questions concerning matters other than banking and central bank policies," Sjahril told reporters before leaving the headquarters.

The joint decree rules the government blanket guarantee program, which guarantees all banking obligations of closed-down banks. Meanwhile, the June 1 meeting decided on the disbursement of Bank Bali's interbank loans, which are guaranteed by the government.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar said the police had questioned as of Tuesday three high-ranking state officials: Sjahril, State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng and Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto.

"All the officials said they knew nothing about the bank scandal," Togar said on Tuesday.

Tanri and Bambang were questioned, also as witnesses, on Monday.

Togar said the officials were summoned to also clarify a report filed by foreign auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the bank scandal.

PwC was hired by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in late August to audit the transactions related to the scandal which allegedly involved associates of President B.J. Habibie.

BPK disclosed a summary version of the PwC report to the public, while the full report was handed over to the police and the Attorney General's Office.

The agency said they refused to announce the full report since it would breach a banking law and violate banking secrecy codes.

Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi earlier said the government would not bow to pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fully disclose the full PwC audit.

He acknowledged that the audit traced the flow of funds in the scandal to several influential figures and an organization. (jun)