Sjahril detained, Anwar takes over

Sjahril detained, Anwar takes over

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office detained Bank
Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin on Wednesday in connection
with its investigation into the Bank Bali corruption scandal.

The move followed fruitless government efforts to unseat him
from the central bank since December, and came only hours after
President Abdurrahman Wahid returned home from an overseas trip.

Immediately after news of the detention broke, Bank Indonesia
issued a statement regretting the move as potentially affecting
the country's monetary stability.

The bank also announced that senior deputy governor Anwar
Nasution had taken over the leadership of the central bank until
Sjahril could resume his job.

Sjahril, who was named a suspect in the Bank Bali case last
week, has rejected government demands for him to stand down in
spite of an ongoing criminal investigation into him.

He has repeatedly denied the charges, and accused the
President of using the Bank Bali case to force him from office.

Sjahril went to the Attorney General's Office on Wednesday
morning to answer a summons in connection with accusations of
complicity in last year's Bank Bali scandal.

He never left the office complex. He refused to talk to
journalists as he was being escorted by two officers to an
awaiting car that took him to the office's nearby detention
center.

He was formally charged with violating the central bank's
prudential principle when he ordered Bank Indonesia to reimburse
interbank loans, guaranteed by the government, to Bank Bali.

Witnesses have testified to Sjahril's presence at a meeting
involving some leaders of Golkar Party at a five-star hotel in
Jakarta where the loan scam is said to have been concocted.

The Attorney General's Office spokesman, Yushar Yahya, told
The Jakarta Post that Sjahril had been detained in order to
facilitate the investigation into him.

Director of Investigation Ris Sihombing said he signed the
arrest warrant on orders from Attorney General Marzuki Darusman.
The warrant calls for a 20-day detention.

Sjahril's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf questioned the decision to
detain him, saying that his client had always cooperated with and
never obstructed the investigation.

"Sjahril's detention is the result of a protracted dispute
between my client and Gus Dur," Assegaf said, referring to the
President by his nickname.

Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo dismissed speculation that
the detention would undermine the implementation of the
government's economic recovery program. Bambang pledged to
cooperate with the caretaker of the central bank.

"The working relationship between the government and Bank
Indonesia is institutional and does not depend on individual
officials," he said.

Bambang said he was confident that the detention would have
little impact on the financial markets.

"I think the market will not react negatively ... Bank
Indonesia as an institution still exists," he said.

The rupiah closed slightly lower at Rp 8,648 per U.S. dollar
on Wednesday, compared to Rp 8,600 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza
Mahendra said Sjahril's arrest complied with Criminal Code
procedures because the governor was being accused of a crime that
carries a maximum jail term of more than five years.

"The 1999 law on the central bank is not applicable in this
case," he said.

Yusril agreed that technically Sjahril remained the central
bank's chief until the court found him guilty.

In refusing to stand down, Sjahril had invoked a 1999 piece of
legislation that guarantees the central bank's independence from
the government.

The law also stipulates that only the House of Representatives
has the power to dismiss the central governor, and then only
after he has been found guilty by a court.

The House last week backed Sjahril's refusal to stand down,
even after he had been named a criminal suspect.

From the presidential office, Cabinet Secretary Marsilam
Simanjuntak said Sjahril should have been suspended from his post
when the criminal investigation into him first began.

Marsilam denied that the President had intervened in the
central bank's affairs when he offered Sjahril an ambassadorial
post or a job in the Supreme Advisory Board in return for
resigning from his job.

The President did that precisely to spare Sjahril from having
to face investigation, he said as quoted by Antara.

Noted legal banking observer Pradjoto said he dismissed the
suggestion that the government had been meddling in central bank
affairs.

"I don't think it has anything to do with Bank Indonesia's
independence. This is about a criminal investigation," he said.

He said Sjahril's detention would not have been such a
personal tragedy if he had voluntarily stepped aside to focus
himself on facing the criminal investigation.

"I have long suggested that he step aside. That would have
been more elegant," he said. (dja/jun/bby/rei)