The Corruption Court ruled Tuesday it would proceed with the trials of four former Bank Indonesia deputy governors allegedly involved in the embezzlement of Rp 100 billion from the central bank.
"We reject all arguments from the defendants and their lawyers, and therefore the trial can go ahead," presiding judge Kresna Menon read out from the pre-trial verdict.
The defendants are Maman H. Somantri, Bun Bunan E.J. Hutapea, Aslim Tadjuddin and Aulia Pohan, the father in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son.
They are on trial for their alleged roles in approving the disbursement of the money in 2003 from BI's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI).
Some Rp 68.5 billion of the money was distributed to five former BI senior officials - Paul Sutopo, Hendro Budiyanto, Heru Soepraptomo, Iwan R. Prawiranata and J. Soedradjad Djiwandono - who were implicated in earlier graft cases related to the misuse of BI liquidity support (BLBI) funds.
The remaining Rp 31.5 billion was distributed to House of Representatives members Hamka Yandhu and Anthony Zeidra Abidin in an attempt to smooth the settlement of the BLBI cases and the amendment of the BI law.
The two legislators later distributed the money to dozens of other legislators at the House's Commission IX for financial affairs.
Hamka and Anthony, both from the Golkar Party, were sentenced to three and four-and-a-half years, respectively, for receiving gratuities.
Two former senior BI officials, Oey Hoey Tiong and Rusli Simanjuntak, who helped disburse the money, were each sentenced to four years in jail for their roles in the same scandal.
The defense team had requested at the previous hearing that the court drop all charges against their clients, arguing that prosecutors had failed to clarify the violations allegedly committed by the defendants.
The lawyers also argued the disbursement of the YPPI money should be tried in a civil court, and not a criminal one.
Prosecutors indicted the defendants on bribery and gratuity charges, which carry between five and 20 years in prison.
During Tuesday's hearing, Aulia's lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis demanded house arrest for his client, but was denied by the judges.
"The panel of judges has yet to consider the proposal," Kresna said.
The trial has been adjourned until next Tuesday, when former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and Supreme Audit Agency chief Anwar Nasution will testify.
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