Prosecutors botch charges, allowing bankers to walk free

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tertiany ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Charges against two former bankers were thrown out by the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday because the prosecutors botched the indictment.

State prosecutors, according to the panel of judges, failed to use the correct article to charge Hashim S. Djojohadikusumo, the former president commissioner of the now defunct Bank Industri, and R. Oemarjoedi, the bank's former president director.

"The article could not be used in this case since the alleged crime occurred before the law took effect. Therefore, the indictment must be annulled in the name of justice," presiding judge Rusdy As'ad told the hearing.

Both defendants were charged with violating Article 49 paragraph 2 c of Law No 7/1992 relating to legal lending limits. It carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail.

Based on the legal lending limit, banks are only allowed to provide credit to each of its subsidiary companies of no more than 10 percent of the bank's capital.

However, based on Article 56, the law came into effect five years after the government passed Law No. 7/1992 on March 25, 1992 while the alleged crime occurred between 1993 and 1994, Rusdy said.

According to the indictment, both defendants authorized Bank Industri to disburse Rp 2 billion on Nov. 7, 1993 following a request from PT Harang Ganjang director Herry Wijaya. The bank gave another Rp 2 billion on May 16, 1994, although Herry did not request it. PT Harang is an affiliated company of the bank.

The indictment said that the central bank had warned Bank Industri four times that it was exceeding its legal lending limit. But as the bank ignored the warnings it resulted in the bank's liquidation in November 1997, it said.

Hashim, a younger brother to former president Soeharto's former son-in-law Prabowo Subianto, could not contain his excitement following the decision.

Usually Hashim has refused to comment on the case but on Friday he had no problems being interviewed by reporters.

"I am happy with the verdict, but I am not satisfied yet since the decision did not mention anything that could have restored my reputation," he told reporters.

Prosecutor Abdul Wahab Arief, who had replaced chief prosecutor Andi Rachman Asbar, insisted that the prosecutors did not use the wrong article in the indictment.

Andi is a chief prosecutor who once managed the current Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra case. However, he was replaced several weeks ago by prosecutor Hasan Madani for unknown reasons.

Abdul said: "I think the judges have gone too far. They shouldn't interpret the article themselves as they must ask for the opinion of an expert witness in the hearing."

The Attorney General's Office said that the prosecutors had presented a perfect case and criticized the judges decision.

"We question the decision because, in the similar case against Bank Jakarta with the suspect Waldimin in 1992, the court decided to accept the case and resume the trial," office spokesman Barman Zahir said.

Barman said that Abdul would appeal to the Jakarta High Court.

Many had predicted earlier that the court would throw out the six-page indictment against Hashim and Oemarjoedi due to a lack of detail.

Apart from sparse detail, it contains several mistakes ranging from incorrect spellings to the questionable articles the defendants were charged with.

The fiasco is nothing new here. Many believe that the instances are the result of incompetent prosecutors.

Others, however, say the wrong charges are laid on purpose to help the accused walk free.

A court rejecting an indictment does not mean that a defendant gets away with the alleged crimes.

If a court drops an indictment due to legal technicalities, prosecutors can appeal to a higher court which has the jurisdiction to annul the decision and order the hearing continue.

Prosecutors can also lodge another indictment to replace the previous one, if they insist on bringing the defendant back before the court.

In 2000, the South Jakarta District Court dropped the indictment of businessman Djoko S. Tjandra in the Bank Bali scandal, due to a legal technicality.

The prosecutor, however, lodged another indictment against him. His case is currently being heard at the Supreme Court.