Witness calls $95m disbursement a graft

JAKARTA (JP): An expert witness of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) Hadi said the disbursement of some Rp 904 billion (US$95 million) to Bank Bali could be categorized as corruption, as Bank Indonesia derived it from the account of the state treasurer.

"The owner of the account is the Ministry of Finance. Some money saved in the account belongs to the state budget," Hadi told Central Jakarta District Court, which is trying Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin over his alleged role in the questionable disbursement of the money to Bank Bali in 1999.

Hadi further told presiding judge Soebardi that some of the Rp 904 billion was supposed to be the central bank's debt to the state.

The Bank Bali corruption scandal centers on the disbursement of Rp 904 billion claimed by Bank Bali to be loans it issued to three defunct private banks -- Bank BDNI, Bank Tiara and Bank Umum Nasional. The government liquidated the three banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 1997.

When prosecutor Jan Merre asked Hadi whether the repayment had violated the joint agreement between the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and Bank Indonesia (BI) on the guarantee program for defunct private banks, Hadi said: "Based on the joint agreement, BI was obliged to verify whether the third party's claim was acceptable. BI then recommended the result (of the verification) to IBRA, who were obliged to pay the claim.

"But as they already knew that Bank Bali's claim was unacceptable, they questionably paid the claim by using funds from the state treasurer," Hadi said.

Another witness Setya Novanto of Golkar Party said that he had received commissions worth Rp 546 billion from Bank Bali for helping realize its claim, but later returned it.

Many believe that the money was not returned to Bank Bali, but was donated to Golkar to help it win the 1999 general elections.

Setya, the President of PT Era Giat Prima (PT EGP), denied involvement in the transaction between PT EGP and Bank Bali, saying that "it was all done by my colleague Djoko S. Tjandra." (tso)