Three bankers face dismissal over land scam

JAKARTA (JP): Three top executives of the city-owned Bank DKI are facing the prospect of being fired as an investigation of the fictitious acquisition of 120 hectares of land nears completion, a councilor said last Friday.

Head of City Council Commission B for economic affairs Djafar Badjeber said he had heard the bank's president Soeharto, director of general affairs Djunaidy Albaghdady and marketing director Bassar Soetardjo would be replaced by senior staff from state and private banks.

Djafar said he received the news from a reliable source at the City Hall. However, he refused to reveal when the executives would be dismissed from the bank.

"I hope the city authorities will dismiss the three executives and also hold them accountable for their actions," he said.

Discovery of the land scam allegedly involving staff from Bank DKI and the city-owned property development firm PT Pembangunan Sarana Jaya (PSJ) was announced by the city administration's reform team on Wednesday.

The alleged role played by PT PSJ executives remains unknown.

"A source at the City Hall told me about the fate of the Bank DKI executives," Djafar said.

No senior city officials could be reached for comment.

Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi, who chairs the reform team, said Bank DKI and PT PSJ reported to the city that they spent Rp 12 billion acquiring 120 hectares of land in Sawangan, Bogor.

They said the money had been paid to a private company, later identified as PT Multan Pandira, Kahfi said on Wednesday.

During a field inspection, members of the team could only trace the owners of 9.6 hectares of the 120 hectares paid for by the city, and documents verifying legal ownership could only be produced for a mere 4.3 hectares.

The role played by PT Multan Pandira in this case is still a mystery.

A source at the city administration admitted on Friday that the land scam also involved a high-ranking central government official. The central government official insisted upon PT Multan Pandira involvement in the purchase of the land on which a massive housing complex for city officials was to have been built.

The high-ranking official issued a memo instructing Bank DKI and PSJ to purchase 124 hectares of land from Multan Pandira (not 120 hectares as stated by Djafar and Kahfi), said the source, who steadfastly refused to name the official involved.

The fate of the money used to acquire the land remains unclear, but councilor Djafar showed a letter written by Bank DKI employees to the bank's management demanding the return of money cut from their salaries to finance the purchase of the land.

The letter, dated June, stated that Bank DKI executives cut their employees' salaries to fund the land acquisition and claimed the land would be used to benefit the bank's staff.

A press conference on the issue is expected to be held on Monday at the City Hall. (ind)