JAKARTA:
The World Bank has questioned the decision of
the South Jakarta District Court on Monday to
drop all charges against a main suspect in the
high profile Bank Bali scandal, according to a
senior official at the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
IBRA legal
division chief Pandoe Djajanto said on Tuesday
that the Bank was questioning the ability of
Indonesia's courts to resolve the financial
crime.
"The World
Bank Jakarta representative called us this
morning. They want clarification and are asking
about the legal procedures of the case,"
Pandoe told reporters.
The World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund have
demanded Indonesia resolve the Bank Bali case in
a credible way as a prerequisite for their
continued assistance to help finance the
country's economic reforms.
The South Jakarta
District Court dropped the indictment of
businessman Djoko S. Tjandra, a defendant in the
bank scandal, on a legal technicality. Presiding
Judge R. Soenarto said the judges did not have
the authority to try the case as there was
insufficient evidence implicating the
defendant's involvement in the alleged crime.
"It's a
civil case, not a criminal one. Therefore, it's
the authority of a team of judges in a civil
case to rule whether the cessie contract was
illegal or not," Soenarto said.
He added that if
the state has suffered losses from the
defendant's alleged corrupt practices, it could
demand compensation from the defendant in a
civil case.
The Attorney
General's office is seeking an appeal of the
court ruling.
The scandal
centers on the transfer of some Rp 546 billion
(US$73.7 million) from the bank to a private
firm called PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) as a
commission for its factoring service to help the
bank recoup some Rp 904 billion in interbank
claims on closed down banks from IBRA.
Bank Bali should
not have used the service of EGP because the
interbank claims were guaranteed by IBRA, an
agency under the Finance Ministry.
The transfer of
the Rp 546 billion fee caused serious losses to
Bank Bali, which was being recapitalized by the
government.
The case emerged
in July 1999 and became a high profile scandal
as several high ranking government officials
were allegedly involved and part of the money
was believed to have been transferred to the
Golkar Party, to help finance the presidential
campaign of then president B.J. Habibie.
The scandal
contributed to Habibie's failure in the
presidential bid.
The Habibie
administration claimed that part of the money
had been returned to the central bank.
Djoko and the
Golkar Party denied all the allegations. Djoko
repeatedly claimed that the fee was normal in a
factoring contract transaction, also called
cessie transaction.
But international
accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in
its September 1999 audit report that there were
indications of fraud in the Bank Bali scandal.
President
Abdurrahman Wahid, elected in October 1999,
promised the country's major donors to put top
priority on resolving the Bank Bali scandal.
This has prompted
the IMF and the World Bank to resume loan
disbursements to the crisis-hit country.
Relations with
the IMF and WB were suspended when Habibie was
accused of delaying a thorough resolution of
scandal.
The South Jakarta
District Court's verdict came less than a week
after the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN)
issued a ruling that annulled an October 1999
decision of IBRA which canceled the cessie
(factoring) contract and ordered the commission
fund to be used to help finance the
recapitalization of Bank Bali.
IBRA's Pandoe
said that the agency filed an appeal to the PTUN
court on Tuesday. (rei) |