Jakarta – Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman says the loss of documents concerning the mishandling of emergency support funds from Bank Indonesia in a fire on Thursday will not hamper investigations into the case.

"Even if the documents have been destroyed in the fire, this incident will not derail the legal process and the ongoing investigations," Mr Marzuki was quoted by Antara as saying. "Moreover, the Development and Finance Comptroller (BPKP) has confirmed that they still have copies of the documents. I have checked it myself."

Thursday's fire gutted the third floor of the BPKP office in central Jakarta where documents related to the alleged misuse of the central bank's 138.44 trillion rupiah (S$29 billion) liquidity support for ailing banks and state institutions were stored.

BPKP reported that the loans were used improperly by banks as they were not employed to reimburse depositors' money but for other purposes, including currency speculation, lending to affiliated business groups and the repayment of subordinated loans.

The agency claimed that the misuse of the liquidity credits in 1998 by the 43 banks was the result of a lack of supervision by the central bank, then chaired by the currently suspended governor Sjahril Sabirin.

The Attorney-General's Office prosecuted four of the banks last month, including Bank Deka, Bank Istimarat, Bank Pelita and Bank Centris.

This has led to speculation that arson may have been behind Thursday's fire. Mr Marzuki on Friday conceded that the fire was "peculiar", but he refused to elaborate.

Separately, the prominent Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) organisation charged that Thursday's fire was part of a systematic effort to sabotage the case. "Regarding the importance of the documents, we suggest that the BPKP immediately hand over its findings to law enforcers and we urge police to start investigating this incident," ICW said in a statement signed by its founder, Teten Masduki.

ICW claimed the destroyed papers concerned cases of alleged graft in several government projects involving former minister of mines and energy Ginandjar Kartasasmita and friends and family of former president Suharto.