Govt slaps travel ban on Aulia Pohan

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 02/16/2008 12:42 PM | Headlines

The father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's son is among 16 active and former Bank Indonesia officials who have been banned from leaving the country due to a corruption investigation.

The officials have been linked to the alleged misappropriation of Rp 100 billion (US$10.81 million) of Bank Indonesia funds.

Former BI deputy governor Aulia Pohan, whose daughter is married to the President's son, has twice been questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over the graft case.

Other affected officials include former BI governors Soedradjad Djiwandono and Sjahril Sabirin and former BI deputy governors Maman Sumantri, Aslim Tadjudin, Bun Bunan Hutapea and Iwan Prawiranata. Also banned is Jambi Deputy Governor Antony Zeidra Abidin, who was a House of Representatives member when the graft case reportedly took place between 2003 and 2004.

All of the officials have undergone KPK questioning as witnesses.

Director of investigations at the Directorate General of Immigration Syaiful Rachman said Friday the travel ban was issued on Feb. 13 and would be effective for a year. The KPK requested the travel ban on Feb. 8.

KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah confirmed the travel ban, which he said was needed to facilitate the investigation.

"The travel ban is expected to support the investigation process," Chandra was quoted as saying by Antara.

KPK has named BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, BI's director of legal affairs Oey Hoy Tiong and BI's head of Surabaya office Rusli Simandjuntak as suspects in the case. The latter two are being detained.

The travel ban came amid BI efforts to challenge the investigation into the case, which its lawyers said had violated the 2004 Law on Bank Indonesia by questioning Burhanuddin without the President's consent. The 2004 KPK Law says the antigraft body does not require a presidential permit to question people, including state officials. Many officials have hidden behind presidential permits to evade investigation.

Lawyers for Burhanuddin filed a motion with the Constitutional Court on Friday requesting a settlement of the conflict between BI and KPK.

"There are legal controversies between the law on BI and the law on the KPK and therefore we ask for an examination of the two legal products," BI lawyer Ismail Berdan said.

Another lawyer for Burhanuddin, A. Dani Saliswijaya, said his client would not attend the summons for a questioning as a suspect next week, pending the settlement of the conflicting laws.

KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, however, said the commission would uphold the KPK law and order Burhanuddin to come in for questioning.

"We will follow the law that allows the KPK to summon anyone who is involved in a graft case," he said.

Whether or not Burhanuddin would appear for questioning was apparently one of the topics discussed during a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the BI board of governors at the State Palace.

When asked whether he would heed the KPK summons, Burhanuddin simply said he would comply with the law.

On Friday, the KPK questioned former BI governor Soedrajad for a second time and the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation's treasurer Ratnawati Sari.

Of the misused BI funds, Rp 68.5 billion was spent on hiring lawyers for settlement of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support cases, while the rest was allegedly given to several members of House Commission IX overseeing financial affairs during the amendment of the BI law. (ewd)

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