Jakarta – Former Bank Indonesia governor Burhanuddin Abdullah revealed that Cabinet minister Paskah Suzetta attended at least two meetings with BI officials to discuss the settlement of a major bribery scandal involving the central bank.
Burhanuddin, a suspect in the case, made the statement on Wednesday during his trial at the Corruption Court.
He said the first meeting was held at a dinner, during which Paskah listened to explanations from BI official Lukman Bunyamin about a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report on the embezzlement of Rp 100 billion from the central bank.
"(Paskah and I) gave input on how to resolve the case," Burhanuddin told the court.
He said the second meeting was held at a hotel in South Jakarta at the invitation of Paskah, formerly a Golkar Party legislator and now state minister for national development planning.
"However, Paskah pulled out of the meeting beforehand," Burhanuddin said. He added he and Paskah held a third meeting to discuss the same issue, but did not say where and when it took place.
This meeting, Burhanuddin said, was also attended by a number of BI officials and members of the House of Representatives' Commission IX, which oversaw financial and banking issues. At the time, Paskah was chairman of the commission.
Burhanuddin said Rusli Simanjuntak, suspended chief of BI's Surabaya office, Commission IX member Hamka Yandhu and BPK auditor Abdullah Zaini were among those present at the third meeting. "Zaini chaired the meeting," he added.
Burhanuddin said that in the meeting, Paskah asked the central bank to resolve the scandal around the embezzlement of Rp 100 billion from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI).
Some Rp 31.5 billion of the fund was distributed to all the members of Commission IX to expedite the amendment of the BI law in 2003.
The Corruption Court earlier heard that Paskah received Rp 1 billion of the fund, with Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban receiving Rp 300 billion.
Both Paskah and Kaban, who have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the BI bribery case, remain free.
During his testimony before the same court Tuesday, Burhanuddin named former BI deputy governor Aulia Tantowi Pohan as the main actor in the disbursement of the YPPI money.
Aulia, who is the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son, admitted to approving the disbursement.
"The BI board of governors thought we would need incidental funds for legal aid for several former BI senior officials (linked to the BI liquidity support, or BLBI, cases) and the board decided on June 3, 2003, to ask YPPI to set aside some Rp 100 billion for that," Aulia said during his testimony on Tuesday.