BI Bribery Scandal: Recording the Voice of RI-10 [+Money Flowed Further]

Jakarta, Suara indonesia news - Antony Zeidra Abidin recorded his conversations with Anwar
Nasution in order to expose the BI bribery scandal.

IN December the year before last, Antony Zeidra Abidin called on
Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) Chairman, Anwar Nasution, two times.
The first time Anwar received Antony together with Finance &
Banking Commission member Bobby Suhardiman in his office. The
second time Antony came alone.

The subject of their discussions was serious: a letter Anwar had
sent to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) telling of
irregularities in payments from Bank Indonesia (BI) to the House
of Representatives. Antony was accused of being one of the
recipients of the illegal payments.

While discussions were continuing, unknown to Anwar, Antony was
recording the conversation using a device in his pocket. In the
recording, Anwar is heard to say, "You were wrong from the
start. Why did you put me here (the Supreme Audit Agency). If
you'd put me there (Bank Indonesia), I'd have paid from the
beginning."

The transcript of the recording was read out by Antony's
attorney last Friday during the trial of Antony and Hamka Yandhu
at the Corruption Court, Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said. According to
Antony's attorney, Maqdir Ismail, this statement shows that
Anwar was offended because in 2004 the House of Representatives
(DPR) Finance Commission had chosen him to head the BPK, while
he really wanted to be BI Governor. When he was chosen, Anwar, at the time senior deputy governor,
was the number two person at the central bank. When it came to
the vote, members of the DPR chose Burhanuddin Abdullah to be
governor.

Therefore, still according to Maqdir, Anwar's efforts to expose
abuses at the central bank and to have his client charged with
receiving funds were all because of Anwar's failure to become
central bank governor. Anton and Bobby were both Golkar Party
members of the Finance Commission for the 1999-2004 period and
took part in the fit-and-proper tests for BI Governor.

As a result of the Supreme Audit Agency report to the KPK, three
senior BI officials—former Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah,
governors' office head Rusli Simanjuntak and legal affairs
director Oey Hoey Tiong—were prosecuted. Two members of the
Finance & Banking Commission, Antony Zeidra Abidin and Hamka
Yandhu, former chair of the Banking Sub-commission and Finance
Sub-commission respectively, were also prosecuted.

Speaking to Tempo in his office last Friday, Anwar confirmed
that he had received Antony and Bobby on December 8, 2006. But
he had no idea Antony was recording the conversation. He said he
had no plans to report Antony to the police, but that he
regretted receiving Antony. "He recorded [the conversation]
without my knowledge, in my office. I think that's immoral," he
said.

The BPK secretariat has a record of Anwar receiving Antony and
Bobby for one and a half hours from 3:30pm. "Bobby mostly stayed
quiet," said Anwar. The second meeting with Antony began at
5:30pm and lasted around half an hour.

At the time, Antony, said Anwar, asked why the BPK had written
and sent a report to the KPK. Antony also complained because the
report stated that he was the only person who had received
money. Anwar said that Antony's name had come up because he had
been mentioned as a BI official in an interview with an auditor
from the BPK.

Bobby Suhardiman, who was also in the meeting with Anwar, could
not be contacted. Although Tempo tried repeatedly to call him,
his cellphone was not active. When Tempo went to his home at 120
Jalan Ampera, South Jakarta—as listed in the record of Bobby's
questioning by the Corruption Eradication Commission—a security
guard said that Bobby was not in. "Pak Bobby hasn't lived here
for two years," he said.

According to the record of the questioning from May, the Golkar
politician said that Antony also questioned why the BPK had sent
a summons to Jambi—to the office of the province's deputy
governor.

Bobby said that he and Antony had gone to Anwar Nasution's
office two or three days after their visit to BI Governor
Burhanuddin Abdullah. Bobby said that Antony was angry with
Burhanuddin because the story of the money had spread everywhere.

On Antony's recording too, Anwar apparently uses impolite
language. Anwar asks Antony to tell Burhanuddin Abdullah to
"extort the Chinese" to cover up the payment of Rp100 billion to
replace the money from the Indonesian Banking Development
Foundation that had been used to bribe members of the DPR. Anwar
did not deny saying this. "It was said as a joke," he said. The
principle of the matter was that no matter how it was done, the
Foundation money must be returned. "Where the money came from, I
don't know," said Anwar again.

Anwar said he also said the same thing to Burhanuddin Abdullah
and State Minister for National Planning Paskah Suzetta. The two
men came separately to discuss a solution to the scandal last
year. Paskah Suzetta, who has twice been questioned by the KPK,
was deputy head of the Finance & Banking Commission when the
billions of rupiah was being paid out to DPR members.

Anwar added that he had said the same thing to BI Deputy
Governor Aulia Pohan, who, it is worth noting, is his cousin.
"Your daughter's father-in-law (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) is
president now," said Anwar. "This must be sorted out quickly."

l l l

THE process of selecting the Bank Indonesia Governor in May 2003
left echoes that still reverberate. Although at the time Anwar
was the most senior member of the board of governors, he was not
recommended to the DPR as a candidate for the governorship.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri hoped that Miranda Swaray
Goeltom, a deputy governor, would replace Syahril Sabirin as the
top person at the central bank. The other candidates were BI
Director Cyrillus Harinowo and Deputy Governor Burhanuddin
Abdullah.

According to an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
politician, Miranda was the strongest candidate at the time.
Anwar Nasution was deliberately not included on the list as he
would be too strong a rival for Miranda. "If you want a rival,
don't have a strong one," he said.

Anwar, says a Tempo source, still wanted to work at the central
bank. He was sure he would be able to build a good relationship
between BI and the Finance Department regarding monetary and
state finance issues. "Perhaps Anwar wanted that message to
reach Megawati," says the source.

Anwar still had a chance with the selection of the senior deputy
governor a year later. At that time, says the politician, Anwar
could have had his term of office extended. But Miranda, who had
been beaten by Burhanuddin Abdullah in the selection for the
governorship, had been marked down by the Golkar Party and PDI-P
for the number two spot. "It was agreed that Anwar would be made
Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency," he says.

Anwar confirmed he would have preferred to work at the central
bank. "It is a good match for my educational background," said
the graduate in public administration from Harvard University's
Kennedy School of Government. But, according to Anwar, he was
realistic because the President would have had to agree to give
him the chance to work at the central bank. He does not feel he
is good at political lobbying, let alone paying out large sums
of money. "[I didn't want to] pay bribes everywhere as you
reported," said Anwar.

But the University of Indonesia economics lecturer admitted his
position as BPK head was more prestigious than being Governor of
BI. "My license plate is RI-10," he laughed. "When I pass,
everybody pulls in." (RED)


BI money flowed further: witness

The Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) embezzled Bank Indonesia
(BI) funds were used to promote certain people into certain
positions for the central bank's benefit, the Corruption Court
heard Monday.

I Nyoman Wara, an auditor at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK),
testified that he found what the funds were being used for
during a BPK questioning session with Aulia Pohan, a former BI
deputy governor, in August 2005.

"In further developments, the money was used to promote certain
persons to certain positions, that were considered important to
voice BI's interests," Nyoman read a transcript from an
interview with Aulia.

Aulia is the father-in-law to President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's son.

Aulia, according to Nyoman, said a BPK audit into the BI
liquidity support (BLBI) corruption case posed problems to the
bank as well as its top officials.
BI needed lots of money to be used in its approach to law
enforcers, lawmakers, political parties and other parties. BI
board of governors later decided to take Rp 100 billion from the
Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI), one of its
proxies.