Prosecutors put Sjahril under house arrest
Prosecutors put Sjahril under house arrest
JAKARTA (JP): Suspended Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril
Sabirin left the Attorney General's Office detention compound on
Friday night, where he has been confined for the past three
months after prosecutors reverted his status to house arrest.
The decision came after Sjahril's lawyers submitted a plea for
an arrest cessation earlier in the day.
It was the third such request submitted since Sjahril was
placed under detention on June 21.
The house arrest notification was signed by Director of
Investigation Sudibyo Saleh and is valid until Oct. 18. Earlier,
prosecutors had also extended Sjahril's arrest for 30 days
starting from Sept. 19 and lasting until Oct. 18.
Escorted by the Attorney General's Office security officers
and the prosecutor, Sjahril left the compound in one of the
Office's jeeps.
Sjahril's wife and children and several central bank staff
members were also present to accompany him to his home in the
Cinere area, South Jakarta.
"I feel happy and relieved to leave detention," Sjahril told
journalists.
His lawyer Mohamad Assegaf said the team of lawyers
representing Sjahril would also appeal the city arrest.
Assegaf argued that the new arrest status still does not
sufficiently allow their client to carry out his daily
activities.
"The house arrest is both good news and bad news. The bad news
is that Sjahril still cannot go to his office. Moreover, (we
believe) there is no urgency to prolong the arrest," he told
journalists.
Assegaf argued that his client has been cooperative during the
questioning and the board of BI's director has also guaranteed
that Sjahril will not flee to escape investigation.
Prosecutor Yan W. Mere said that the decision to change the
arrest status was based on the consideration that the ongoing
investigation into Sjahril's alleged corruption case is about to
be completed and because the board of BI's directors also pleaded
for the change in the arrest status.
"There was no political pressure in the making of this
decision," he asserted.
Sjahril is suspected of violating the central bank's
prudential principal in its policy to reimburse a Rp 904 billion
interbank loan guaranteed by the government in connection with
the Bank Bali scandal. (bby)