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Megawati in the clear in BLBI case

Jokowi supportive of his key ally despite their rollercoaster relationship KPK has indicated it is unlikely to question Megawati

Safrin La Batu and Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Thu, April 27, 2017

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Megawati in the clear in BLBI case Welfie: President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo smiles as he watches former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and her daughter Puan Maharani, who is also coordinating human development and culture minister, take a welfie with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the State Palace on Thursday. (Courtesy of the Presidential Palace/Agus Soeparto)

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s the government camp recovers from its loss in the highprofile Jakarta gubernatorial election, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is defending Megawati Soekarnoputri, the leader of his main political ally, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who has recently been implicated in a corruption case.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recently revived an investigation into the disbursement of several billions of dollars from the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Scheme (BLBI), which was implemented when Megawati served as president, by naming a former chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung, its first suspect in the case.

Jokowi said on Wednesday that people should not blame Megawati for conceiving the bailout policy because it was the implementation that might have gone wrong.

“The most important thing is to distinguish policy from implementation. It was indeed a presidential decision, a presidential decree, which aimed to resolve problems, but the implementation was on different terrain,” he told reporters.

The antigraft body has accused Syafruddin of embezzling state funds by issuing a letter to Sjamsul Nursalim, the owner of Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI), that released him from the obligation to repay a Rp 3.7 trillion (US$227.5 million) debt he owed to the government, which had disbursed the money under the BLBI program.

Syafruddin’s decision was based on a presidential decision issued by Megawati in December 2002 regulating the “release and discharge” letters, freeing recipients of the funds from the obligation to fully pay back the debts.

Sjamsul’s BDNI received Rp 28 trillion of BLBI funds and was obligated to return Rp 4.8 trillion, but Syafruddin decided that the bank should only pay Rp 1.1 trillion.

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