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KPK drops probe into BLBI graft scandal. Then govt forms BLBI asset recovery task force
The government has formed a new task force to recover state assets lost during the alleged corruption of the BLBI funds in 1997-1998, now that the KPK can no longer pursue criminal charges against its suspects. But one critic says the move comes too late.
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Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung (left), former chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), talks to his lawyer Yusril Ihza Mahendra at a hearing during his trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court in 2018. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
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n its latest move to chart an alternative path to resolve the long-running Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) corruption scandal, the government has formed a task force by presidential decree recover trillions in state assets through civil litigation. The establishment of the BLBI asset recovery task force comes after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was unable to continue pursuing criminal accountability for the suspects in its investigation.
The antigraft body announced last Monday that it had had dropped the BLBI probe on April 1, citing a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that acquitted one of its key suspects, former Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) chairman Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung.
The court ruled that Syafruddin’s issuance of a debt discharge letter, which released a borrower from their obligation to repay government loans taken out under the BLBI scheme, was not a criminal act, but a civil or administrative one. The KPK petitioned the court for judicial review of the Syafruddin case, but the Supreme Court rejected the request in June 2020 on technical grounds.
The KPK has sent numerous corruptors to jail in connection with the BLBI funds, but recovering stolen state assets, particularly money that has been converted into other types of assets or moved abroad, has remained difficult.
Read also: BLBI case termination raises concerns over fate of high-profile graft cases
