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Graft investigators eye new suspects
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 03/26/2008 12:38 PM | National
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said Tuesday it had new suspects in a major graft scandal involving lawmakers and the central bank.
KPK deputy chairman for prevention, Haryono, said there was more than one new suspect, but refused to reveal their names.
"We will announce their names after we hold an internal meeting tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said at a press conference in his office.
Haryono stopped short of confirming former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Iwan R. Prawiranata was one of the new suspects.
Earlier this month, the graft body confiscated an apartment and a house belonging to Iwan.
They were confiscated despite Iwan still being just a witness, according to the KPK, in a case involving the misappropriation of BI funds worth Rp 100 billion (US$10.81 million) disbursed in 2003-2004 from BI's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation.
Iwan was accused of having bought the house and apartment with legal-aid funds distributed from the central bank.
Haryono said investigators would also discuss Wednesday what evidence would be brought before the Corruption Court.
"I hope we can hand over the case to the court by the end of the month," he said.
Since Jan. 25, 2008, the KPK has questioned dozens of current and former BI officials and lawmakers allegedly involved in the case.
So far KPK has named BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, BI legal affairs director Oey Hoey Tiong and former BI communications bureau head (now head of the central bank in Surabaya) Rusli Simanjuntak as suspects.
Out of the Rp 100 billion in embezzled funds, Rp 68.5 billion was earmarked to finance the legal costs of several BI former officials, such as Iwan R. Prawiranata and Paul Sutopo, implicated in the misuse of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds.
The remaining Rp 31.5 billion was allegedly given to several members, including Anthony Zeidra Abidin and Hamka Yamdhu, of House of Representatives Commission IX (now Commission XI) overseeing financial affairs during the amendment of the law on the central bank.
On Feb. 15, the KPK issued travel bans on several former and active BI officials, such as Soedrajat Djiwandono, Aulia Pohan, Bun Bunan Hutapea and Sjahril Sabirin, along with Jambi deputy governor Anthony Zeidra Abidin.
Also banned from traveling abroad was Hamka Yamdhu pending further investigation.
Meanwhile, the KPK's deputy chairman for prosecution, Chandra M. Hamzah, said his office was preparing to submit the case files of state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan and businesswoman Artalita for trial.
"We cannot divulge the evidence we have," he said. "But one thing is for sure, the trial for Urip and Artalita will start earlier than expected," Chandra said Monday without specifying a date.
The KPK arrested Urip, a prosecutor with the Attorney General's Office investigating the BLBI scandal, for receiving US$660,000 (Rp 6.1 billion) in cash from Artalita, who has been linked to Sjamsul Nursalim, a suspect in the BLBI case.
Both the accused insist the money was for a gemstone deal, however, the KPK suspects the money was a bribe.
Chandra avoided comment on whether the KPK possessed a tape linking the former deputy attorney general for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman and Artalita.
"Any developments in terms of evidence relating to this case will be revealed in the trial," Chandra said.(ewd/anw)
