BI boss to submit to questioning

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta, Bandung   |  Tue, 02/19/2008 11:40 AM  |  National

Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Burhanuddin Abdullah will attend questioning over a corruption scandal Wednesday despite controversy over legal grounds for summoning BI officials, his lawyers said Monday.

Burhanuddin's lawyer M. Assegaf said his client requested the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to reschedule the questioning session from Tuesday to Wednesday.

"Our client will have to lead the board of governors' meeting Tuesday," Assegaf said, adding the meeting had been scheduled before the governor received a summons last week.

He said the KPK accepted the request because it understood how important the event was.

"Our client will not avoid the investigation process," the lawyer told the press.

Burhanuddin is a suspect in the alleged misappropriation of BI funds worth Rp 100 billion (US$10.81 million). Two other suspects, BI director of legal affairs Oey Hoey Tiong and BI Surabaya office head Rusli Simanjuntak, were detained after being questioned Thursday.

The scandal also implicated Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's son. A travel ban has been imposed on Aulia but he is still free.

Burhanuddin's decision to attend the questioning session came despite the request by a team of BI lawyers for the Constitutional Court to review the BI Law and the KPK Law, which were deemed contradictory to each other.

The request was filed with the Constitutional Court last Friday.

The 2004 law on the BI stipulates the KPK cannot question BI senior officials without the President's consent, while the 2004 KPK law allows the anti-graft body to summon anyone, including state officials, without asking for the President's permission.

On Monday, the BI team of lawyers submitted a summons letter from the KPK as evidence to the Constitutional Court.

A member of the team A. Dani Salisawijaya said the Court would open a hearing on the case on Thursday.

He said the main problem was the KPK did not ask for the President's consent when it summoned Burhanuddin as required under the BI law.

In Bandung, West Java, BI senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom called for all sides to uphold the presumption of innocence principle in dealing with the corruption case.

"There should be no character assassination if there is not enough evidence yet," she told a discussion on macroeconomics at Padjajaran University.

She said all employees of the central bank were wearing black ribbons to show their sympathies with the charged governor.

The misappropriated Rp 100 billion were disbursed from the BI Indonesian Banking Development Foundation.

Some Rp 68.5 billion of the fund was used to hire lawyers for resolution of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) cases, while the remaining Rp 31.5 billion was allegedly distributed to members of the House of Representatives' finance commission during the amendment process of the BI Law.

In investigating the case, the KPK was criticized by anti-graft activists for being unfair.

Syaiful Bahri, of the National Corruption Eradication Movement affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, said the commission should not discriminate against certain officials in dealing with the case.

"KPK must question all members of the House's finance commission who are suspected of receiving money between 2003 and 2004," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

A report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) said over 10 active and former lawmakers were implicated in the case.

Thus far, the KPK has only questioned two lawmakers: Anthony Zeidra Abidin, who is now Jambi's deputy governor, and active lawmaker Hamka Yamdhu. (ewd)

Yuli Tri Suwarni contributed to this story from Bandung.

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