Three bankers face dismissal over land scam
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)