Two jailed former BI officials to testify before inquiry team

Five former Bank Indonesia (BI) top officials, two are currently in jail, have been scheduled to attend Monday’s hearing with the House of Representative’s inquiry team on Bank Century’s Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716.56 million) bailout scandal.
 
Two former BI senior deputy governors, Miranda Swara Goeltom and Anwar Nasution, as well as BI’s former deputy director for banking supervision Sabar Anton Tarihoran, will join their two convicted colleagues, former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and former BI deputy governor Aulia Tantowi Pohan.
 
The Supreme Court (MA) in August sentenced a three-year imprisonment for Abdullah for approving the “illegal” disbursement of Rp 100 billion from BI's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) in 2003.
 
Aulia, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s son, was convicted of corruption in the same case and is now serving his four-year jail sentence after the Jakarta High Court reduced his prison term by six months in September.
 
Abdullah’s lawyer, M. Assegaf, confirmed Sunday that his client would attend the House hearing while Aulia’s lawyer, Otto Cornelis Kaligis, was not available for confirmation.
 
Maruarar Sirait, a member of the inquiry team representing the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said that Aulia would likely make his presence despite some technical problems.
 
The inquiry team will use their first hearing with former BI officials to shoot at the bank’s controversial policies in the approval of the merger of Bank Pikko, Bank Danpac and Bank CIC to form Bank Century during the 2001 to 2004 period.
 
BI approved Chinkara Capital Ltd. to acquire controlling stakes in the small-sized banks in 2001, although, according to an investigative audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Chinkara had failed to meet BI’s regulatory requirements.
 
Before approval was given, according to audit, the BI regulatory directorate revealed it could not ensure if Chinkara was free of money laundering. There were also indications of possible fraud at Bank CIC — already controlled by Chinkara.
 
BPK also revealed that BI insisted on the merger approval, initiated by then BI senior deputy governor Anwar, and then deputy governors Aulia and Miranda, as well as then director for banking supervision Siti Ch. Fadjrijah — now deputy governor for banking supervision.
 
Maruarar, therefore, said that both Aulia and Abdullah were very important since the two were in charge during the processes.
 
“We need them to temporarily leave the prison. They must explain us how such a huge number of violations surrounding Bank Century scandal could happen,” he told The Jakarta Post. (bbs)