Former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Sjahril Sabirin said Friday he would file a judicial review against the Supreme Court’s decision to hand him a two-year sentence in prison for his involvement in the Bank Bali scandal.

“We will fight back by filing a judicial review, and report the decision to the Judicial Commission,” said lawyer M. Assegaf, who represents Sjahril, at the bank’s central office.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court sentenced Sjahril and businessman Djoko Tjandra to two years in prison for a corruption case concerning Bank Bali in 1999.

The court reviewed the case upon the request of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) after the same court acquitted Sjahril in 2002 and the South Jakarta District Court found Djoko not guilty due to a lack of evidence in 2000. The district court had sentenced Sjahril to three years in jail.

The court ordered both Djoko and Sjahril to pay a penalty of Rp 15 million (US$1,500) and return Bank Bali’s funds worth Rp 546.5 billion to the state. Sjahril was also ordered to return Rp 28.7 million in cash to Bank BNI.

The Bank Bali scandal began in 1998 when owner Rudy Ramli failed to claim interbank loans from debtors Bank Umum Nasional and Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia. Rudy then shifted the claims to PT Era Giat Prima (EGP), whose president director was Djoko.

EGP later received Rp 546 billion in commission from Bank Bali after the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) channeled Rp 904 billion to the bank.

Sjahril, as then BI governor, was accused of accelerating the channelling of the funds.

However, district court and high court acquitted Djoko and Sjahril in 2002 of all charges. Supreme Court justices, headed by Djoko Sarwoko, also denied the judicial review filed against Djoko and Sjahril in 2001 and 2004, respectively.

The case was recently reopened by the AGO, but this time Supreme Court justices, again headed by Sarwoko, found Sjahril and Djoko guilty of corruption.

“I feel abused,” Sjaril said.

“Djoko Sarwoko is being inconsistent. Previously he ruled against the case, now he found them guilty.” Assegaf said.

He said a judicial review could be filed only under three conditions: New evidence, actual mistake and opposite decisions between judges.

He added Article 263 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulated only convicts and beneficiaries had the right to file a judicial review, so the AGO had violated the code.

Meanwhile, the AGO announced Friday they were ready for any move from the convicts, but expressed hope that the Court’s ruling was already final.

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