Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday requested life in prison for a relative of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the country's central bank.

Former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Aulia Pohan is accused of using 100 billion rupiah ($8.8 million) in bank funds to bribe politicians and hire lawyers to defend other bank executives on corruption charges.

Prosecutors demanded the maximum life sentence for Mr Pohan and three other deputy BI governors in the first hearing of the case at Indonesia's powerful anti-corruption court. The four men are accused of using 31.5 billion rupiah of the embezzled money to bribe politicians.

The remaining 68.5 billion rupiah was used to hire lawyers to defend other bank officials accused of being complicit in the embezzlement of billions of dollars that went missing during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

The reformist Dr Yudhoyono was elected in a landslide in 2004 on promises to tackle entrenched corruption, and he has said he is personally saddened by the allegations against Mr Pohan, the father-in-law of the President's son.

The corruption court last year sentenced former bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah to five years and gave two other former officials four years each over the case.