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."