Police say nothing to show Tanri's role in Baligate

JAKARTA (JP): National Police detectives have been unable to find any sign of involvement of State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng in the Rp 546 billion Bank Bali scandal, an officer said on Monday.

"Pak Tanri Abeng has not been proven (to be involved) in any corrupt practices. We have nothing against him. So far, he is free from suspicion of corruption," chief of the detectives directorate for corruption practices Col. Fajar Istiono said.

Tanri and Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto were summoned on Monday to the National Police Headquarters as witnesses in the Bank Bali affair.

Fajar refused to disclose the line of questioning behind the interview with Bambang.

He said Tanri's questioning was in connection with a claim reported in the PricewaterhouseCooper's (PWC) audit of an alleged deposit in a Tanri company bank account.

Fajar said the name of Tanri's firm was Bintang, but declined to elaborate further.

Police sources close to the investigation quoted the PwC audit as stating that a huge amount of funds had flowed "into a bank account under the name of PT Bintang Sido Praya".

"That is how Pak Tanri is involved. The funds first entered a Bank Lippo account allegedly belonging to (businessman) Arung Gauk Jare, a trusted friend of Pak Tanri," one of the sources said.

"From there, they flowed down to the accounts of at least four companies, including Pak Tanri's PT Bintang Sido Praya. That's all we can tell you," the source told The Jakarta Post.

Tanri arrived at National Police Headquarters at 10:25 a.m., about 1.5 hours later than the scheduled appointment.

He emerged at about 4 p.m., saying he had only been questioned as a witness.

"The police asked me 14 questions. I feel quite fine," Tanri said.

Fajar said his office would question on Tuesday Bank Indonesia Governor Sjaril Sabirin in connection with the scandal.

Minister/State Secretary Muladi earlier said the government would not bow to pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fully disclose the results of the PwC audit. Muladi said disclosure of the material would violate the country's banking secrecy law.

He acknowledged the audit tracked the flow of funds in the scandal to several influential figures and an organization.

Several local media have published the names of individuals and companies as well as fund amounts said to be involved in the scandal.

The IMF has temporarily halted further disbursement of aid to Indonesia until the government satisfactorily resolves the bank scandal. (ylt)