Jakarta – Former Bank Indonesia (BI) legal bureau head, Oey Hoey Tiong, on Tuesday admitted to using BI money to prevent the arrest of former BI governor Sudrajat Djiwandono, who was implicated in BI liquidity support corruption case.

Oey, who is on trial for embezzlement, told the Corruption Court that he used the money in response to a testimony by Golkar party legislator Antony Zeidra Abidin, another defendant in the case.

"Oey told me that Sudrajat's lawyer asked him for Rp 5 billion (US$525,000) so he would not be arrested," Antony told the court.

"I asked why, then, he asked for Rp 68.5 billion (of BI money). Oey said that because Sudrajat was already about to be arrested he would do anything to prevent it," he said.

In an earlier testimony, former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Aulia Tantowi Pohan admitted to approving the disbursement of Rp 100 billion (US$10.7 million) from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI), a BI proxy, following a BI board of governors meeting.

Rp 68.5 billion was used for legal aid for five former BI senior officials, while the remainder was used to get support for the central bank from House of Representatives' members.

According to Antony, Oey told him that Sudrajat was about to be detained by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) prosecutors. Oey, however, said that he did not know whether it was the AGO. (dre)