Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Paskah Suzetta, the current national development planning minister, was involved in attempts to cover up the alleged misappropriation of Rp 100 billion in central bank funds, a court heard Monday.
Bank Indonesia (BI) director of logistics Lukman Bunyamin told the Corruption Court that Paskah met with senior officials from the bank and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) at least four times to discuss "settlement" of the fund disbursement.
A total of Rp 31.5 billion of the money allegedly went to 52 members of the former House of Representatives' Commission IX on financial affairs in 2003.
"There was a meeting between Paskah, Burhan and Anwar and a BPK auditor," Lukman Bunyamin, then BI director of internal supervision, told a hearing on Monday.
Then BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and BPK chief Anwar Nasution were present at the meeting, he said. "Pak Paskah asked Pak Anwar what the best solution was, but Pak Anwar did not give any way out," he said.
Burhanuddin, former legal director Oey Hoey Tiong and suspended BI Surabaya bureau chief Rusli Simanjuntak are all standing trial over the scandal. Lukman said Anwar suggested the matter be handled according to legal and accounting systems.
Previous hearings have indicated Paskah had a key role in the graft case. He underwent hours of questioning by the Corruption Eradication Commission last month, but denied any link to the BI scandal.
The Golkar politician was one of the members of the former Commission IX that amended the BI law and resolved the BI liquidity support (BLBI) case, in which several former senior BI officials were implicated.
Golkar lawmaker and a suspect in the case, Hamka Yandhu, said Paskah received Rp 1 billion, while other commission members received at least Rp 250 million each.
Paskah allegedly took part in two follow-up meetings at a Central Jakarta hotel in 2005.
"The first meeting was attended by Pak Paskah, Hamka Yandhu, Lucky Fathul Aziz (BI governor's office deputy chief) and me. Pak Burhanuddin asked me to meet with Pak Paskah regarding information about the findings of a BPK audit on BI," Lukman said.
In the second meeting, Lukman said, Paskah suggested a "reconciliation" between BI head of communications Rusli Simanjuntak and House lawmaker Anthony Zeidra Abidin.
"What did he mean by 'reconciliation'?" asked Sutiyono, one of the judges. According to Lukman, "reconciliation" meant "knowing the exact amount of the fund", because at that time Paskah did not believe the amount of BI funds disbursed to the House to be very high.
He said another meeting was held to discuss how to solve the problem, but no conclusion was reached.
The last meeting, allegedly attended by Paskah, Hamka and BPK deputy chairman Abdullah Zaini, took place at a South Jakarta hotel in June 2006. In that meeting, Abdullah Zaini asked BI to pay back the money to the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (YPPI).
The meeting attendees eventually supported an idea to compensate the YPPI by allowing it to use BI land in Kemang, South Jakarta, and to issue debt letters to former BI directors who benefited from the fund.