Sjahril to face trial soon: Abdurrahman

Sjahril to face trial soon: Abdurrahman

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Friday that
Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin would be brought to the
court soon for a trial over his alleged involvement in the Bank
Bali scandal.

" Don't worry, Sjahril Sabirin will be brought to the court
soon. The attorney general has told me this," Abdurrahman said,
without giving a clear time frame.

The President's remarks came after Sjahril's release on
Tuesday from the custody of the Attorney General's Office because
his maximum detention period had expired.

The release has raised speculation that the President's power
over his administration is weakening. Abdurrahman has been under
strong attack by a group of hard-liners in the House of
Representatives over alleged involvement in financial scandals.

However, Sjahril may face other criminal charges related to
banknote counterfeiting.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Rizal Ramli, told
reporters on Thursday that Sjahril was linked to other criminal
cases, including the counterfeiting of bank notes.

Rizal denied on Friday that he had ever made such a statement
but he insisted that Sjahril should also take moral
responsibility for the counterfeit money case.

Separately, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman confirmed, on
Friday, that his office was currently cooperating with several
other institutions to investigate the case concerning the
counterfeit bank notes.

"The investigation finds that it all leads to the involvement
of Bank Indonesia as an institution," Marzuki told journalists.

But he refused to mention any particular suspects.

Sjahril's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf said that his client had no
plans as yet to file defamation charges against Rizal for his
wild accusation.

"However, there seems to be no coordination between Rizal and
the Attorney General," Assegaf told the Jakarta Post.

"After Rizal clarified his initial statements to the press on
Friday, the Attorney General came out to endorse Rizal's Thursday
statements that there is a strong suspicion in the central bank
that my client's leadership was involved with the printing of
fake banknotes," he added.

A retired army colonel is currently being put on trial at the
Surabaya district court in East Java over a counterfeit money
case involving around Rp 4.28 billion.

Sjahril was detained late in June after months of arguments
with Abdurrahman, who had demanded that the governor step down in
order to clear the way for cleaning up Bank Indonesia, which has
been perceived by the public as being a corrupt institution.

It is no secret that the central bank had been used by
Soeharto to enrich his family and friends during the 32 years in
power.

The Supreme Audit Agency discovered in an investigative audit
last year the misuse of Rp 144.5 trillion (US$15 billion) in
massive government bank liquidity support funds injected to
ailing banks during the height of the financial crisis between
1997 and early 1999.

Sjahril was appointed to the top position of Bank Indonesia
for a five-year term in early 1998 by the then authoritarian
president Soeharto.

Sjahril has denied any involvement in last year's Bank Bali
scandal, which centered on the illegal transfer of some US$80
million from Bank Bali to a private firm linked to senior
executives of the Golkar Party.

The government also seems to have a weak case against Sjahril
particularly as other key suspects in the bank scandal have been
acquitted of all charges by the court.

There has been speculation that the President's true intention
to oust Sjahril from the central bank was made to fulfill his
wish to install his loyalists at Bank Indonesia, which holds the
documents on major flows of funds derived from what is now known
as the "Bulogate" scandal which allegedly implicates Abdurrahman.

Sjahril has now returned to office. His first remarks to
journalists upon his return was that his top priority was to make
internal consolidation after being absent for five months after
the recent resignation of senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution
and four other deputy governors. Sjahril said that Anwar had
betrayed him.

A House special team is currently debating the government-
proposed bill on the amendment of the central bank law which
would remove legal obstacles to oust Sjahril from Bank Indonesia.

Under the existing central bank law, approved by the House in
May 1999, the governor and other members of the board of
governors can not be dismissed unless they have been proven to
have committed a crime, incapacitated or resign voluntarily.

Under the proposed changes, the House can dismiss a board
member if he or she fails to perform or if he or she is inactive
for more than three consecutive months. (rei/byg/bby/ylt)