Witness calls $95m disbursement a graft
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)