Sjahril, Suta suspects in graft cases

Sjahril, Suta suspects in graft cases

Abdul Khalik and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

For Sjahril Sabirin, even after his retirement as the governor
of Bank Indonesia jail continues to haunt him; while for former
Indonesian Bank Restructuring (IBRA) chairman, the controversial
I Putu Ary Suta, only five months after his failure to win the
Bali gubernatorial race, he must now work hard to prove his
innocence in a corruption allegation.

After rumors about them spread in the last few weeks, Jakarta
Prosecutor's Office deputy chief for special crime section Marwan
Effendi eventually confirmed on Sunday that National Police had
put the names of Sjahril and Ary Suta in the list of suspects in
a high-profile corruption case.

Police put them in the list after conducting a formal
investigation on the alleged misuse of Rp 20.9 trillion (US$2.45
billion) of the government's funds put in Bank Indonesia account
No. 502.

"I received the notification letter from the police two months
ago, saying that they will begin the investigation against the
suspects of the account No.502 fund misuse, including Sjahril and
Ary Suta," Marwan told The Jakarta Post, when contacted by
telephone on Sunday.

The government issued bonds worth Rp 53.779 trillion with a
15-year of maturity period in 1999 and put them in the account No
502. The funds are used to cover of the financial obligations of
banks which were closed by the government when the economic
crisis hit the country since 1997.

In its report last August, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK)
suspected the central bank and IBRA had manipulated Rp 20.9 state
fund. On Friday the agency offered full cooperation although the
latter has never made such a request before.According to BPK, Rp
17.76 trillion of the account was suspected misused by Bank
Indonesia while the rest was allegedly manipulated by the IBRA.

"The Rp 20.9 trillion fund can not be burdened to the account
No. 502," BPK chairman Satrio B. Joedono said in August.

This was the second criminal case for Sjahril. In 2000, the
prosecutor office detained him for five months after he was
declared a suspect in a corruption case involving the
disbursement a Rp 904 billion (US$106 million) of IBRA funds to
Bank Bali. Central Jakarta District Court sentenced him in 2002
to three years in prison. Five months later Jakarta High Court
acquitted him from all charges.

Surprisingly, despite the problems, Sjahril, who was appointed
by then president Soeharto few months before his fall in May
1998, could finish his full five-year term last year, and worked
with all of Soeharto's three successors as the central bank
governor.

Sjahril's former lawyer Mohammad Assegaf disclosed Sjahril was
surprised to know that he is among the suspect in the case as he
got nothing to do with it.

"He said that he has never been questioned or summoned as
witness in the case, so how come he could be named as a suspect
in the case?" Assegaf told the Post on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ary Suta could not be reached to comment. During
his 10-month tenure as IBRA chief until April 2002, he stirred
several controversies, including the sales of the publicly-listed
car assembler PT Indomobil Sukses International.

Without mentioning their names, last month National Police
chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng disclosed that one
of former IBRA chairmen and his deputy were suspectedly to have
corrupt Rp 400 billion of the total Rp 20.9 trillion funds by
distributing it to several banks without adequate authorization.
Police had questioned at least 20 witnesses, including IBRA bank
restructuring unit deputy chairman I Nyoman Sender.

Meanwhile when asked whether other IBRA officials are also in
the list of suspect, prosecutor Marwan replied,"There are several
names in the list, but I don't remember if the men from IBRA are
there."