Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Expert witnesses testified that the decision made by Bank Indonesia's board of directors in using Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) was wrong from the outset.
"If BI wanted to channel its assets into a foundation, it should have sought a permit from either the Finance Ministry, the President or legislators. If not, then it was wrong," Siswo Sujanto, an expert on foundations from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, testified at the Corruption Court on Wednesday.
BI established the YPPI in 1970 as a banking research and education center and bankers' resource development.
Novi Gregorianto, tax audit head at the Finance Ministry's Taxation Directorate General, said since the YPPI was established and funded by BI, its financing could be considered state funds.
"If we look at the state's financial management principles, all state funds must be accounted for," he said.
He stressed the funds were not meant for the foundation's interest; instead, they were used by the central bank. "If the foundation's funds were used for BI's interests, then they should be accounted for in BI's financial records," he said.
Novi said the Rp 100 billion fund was liquidated between June and December 2003, but none of the transactions were recorded in YPPI or BI financial statements per December 2003, when the Supreme Audit Agency audited BI's financial statement. "That means the money just disappeared," Novi said.
The money was disbursed to members of the House of Representatives' then Commission IX on financial affairs (now Commission XI) to resolve the central bank's liquidity support (BLBI) cases and the amendment of a BI law, as well as to five former BI officials to obtain legal assistance in corruption cases.
Novi said it could also be said the state had suffered losses of Rp 100 billion because there was no debt account for the money. Not a single record or document proves the existence of the money.
Novi acknowledged the foundation's organization members were the only ones able to cash in the money. "At the time, the members cashed in the money following a memo issued by the supervisory board," he said.
Among supervisory board members being questioned in relation to the case are Aulia Pohan and Maman Sumantri.
The memo was issued based on a June 3, 2003, BI board of governor's decision signed by, among others, then governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, then senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution, Aulia, Raden Maulana Ibrahim and Maman, Novi added.
"The foundation's assets cannot be disbursed to parties other than the foundation's organization members," he said. He added if parties outside the foundation organization used the money, then it was a violation of the 2001 Foundation Law.
When asked by the panel of judges who should be held responsible for the fiasco, Novi said if the foundation was not a legal body, then its founder would have been responsible.