Oey, Rusli face 6 years for BI corruption
Enny Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/27/2008 2:19 PM
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors on Monday demanded six years' imprisonment for two former Bank Indonesia (BI) officials, Oey Hoey Tiong and Rusli Simanjuntak, in the BI funds embezzlement case.
Oey and Rusli, former heads of BI's legal bureau and communications department, respectively, are standing trial for their roles in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 100 billion (US$10 million).
Prosecutors also called on the Corruption Court to fine each of the defendants Rp 250 million, or hand down an additional eight months in prison if they did not pay.
One of the prosecutors, Agus Salim, said that they were "legally and convincingly guilty of committing collective fraud" along with former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and members of BI's board of governors; Aulia Tantowi Pohan, Bun Bunan E.J. Hutapea and Aslim Tadjuddin.
The case centers around a June 2003 BI board of governors meeting in which a decision was reached to disburse money from BI's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI).
"The defendants later withdrew the money from YPPI themselves," Salim said.
Oey withdrew a total Rp 68.5 billion that was later disbursed to five former senior BI officials, Paul Sutopo, Hendro Budiyanto, Heru Soepraptomo, Iwan Prawiranata and Soedrajat Djiwandono, who were all later implicated in the BI liquidity support (BLBI) corruption cases, Salim said.
BLBI funds were disbursed by the government to ailing major banks during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
The remaining Rp 31.5 billion was given to members of the House of Representatives' then Commission IX (which oversaw financial affairs) to expedite the settlement of BLBI cases and the amendment of the 1999 BI law, Salim said.
The funds were disbursed to commission members through legislators Antony Zeidra Abidin and Hamka Yandhu, both of whom also now face trial at the Corruption Court.
Judges adjourned Oey and Rusli's trial for one week, to give the defendants time to prepare their arguments against the demands.
Rusli told the court he would read a personal defense in addition to his lawyer's arguments, while Oey said he would leave his defense in his lawyers' hands. (dre)
