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)