Sjahril's verdict on March 6

Sjahril's verdict on March 6

JAKARTA: The Central Jakarta District Court is scheduled to
present its verdict on Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin on
March 6.

Presiding judge Soebardi said on Monday that the trial could
not he held sooner because one of the judges intended to perform
the haj pilgrimage.

Sjahril is being tried for allegedly abusing his authority in
the illegal disbursement of Rp 904 billion (US$86.9 million) in
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) funds to Bank Bali in
1999.

Curiously, Rp 546 billion (US$58.8 million) of the money was
paid to factoring firm PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a "commission"
for helping Bank Bali to obtain the money.

PT EGP was owned by people close to the Golkar party and it
was alleged that the money was used to campaign for the
reelection of president BJ Habibie, who later lost his seat.

Prosecutor Yan Mere had earlier demanded a four-year prison
sentence for Sjahril and asked the court to fine him Rp 30
million.

In 2000 Djoko S. Tjandra of EGP and former IBRA deputy
chairman Pande Nasorahona Lubis were acquitted of all charges
relating to the Bank Bali scandal.--JP