Aulia takes back words against ex-BI chief
A former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor has retracted his testimony on his former boss Burhanuddin Abdullah's pivotal role in the alleged Rp 100 billion (US$10.9 million) embezzlement of central bank funds.
Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's son, however, admitted to his role in disbursing some of the money to lawmakers during Burhanuddin's graft trial Wednesday.
Aulia withdrew his earlier testimony in the trial session that former governor Burhanuddin endorsed a decision by the BI board of directors meeting to disburse money from the bank's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) for lawmakers and former senior BI officials on June 3, 2003.
He said that in the meeting, former deputy governor Bun Bunan Hutapea suggested using the YPPI fund for the disbursement as BI had no budget allocation for it.
According to him, former BI legal affairs deputy Oey Hoey Tiong agreed with Bun Bunan, saying it was legally possible. Bun Bunan later said the YPPI had more than Rp 200 billion in its fund.
"Then Burhanuddin said, 'if that's the case, set aside Rp 100 million (from the fund)'," Aulia told the court.
However, he rescinded his testimony following Burhanuddin's objection.
"I decided to change my testimony, because Burhanuddin refused to admit it," he told the panel of judges.
Presiding Judge Gusrizal asked Aulia twice whether he would stick to his testimony.
During the trial, Aulia also admitted giving orders to former head of the BI communications bureau, Rusli Simanjuntak, to disburse a total of Rp 31.5 billion of the money to members of the House of Representatives' then Commission IX (now Commission XI overseeing financial affairs).
"The money was needed to support a political settlement to address the disclaimer status given to the bank in a financial report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) related to BI liquidity support (BLBI) funds," he said.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in its indictment against Burhanuddin said the money was also related to the work of then Commission IX in amending the law on the central bank.
The KPK said Aulia and fellow deputy governor Maman Somantri, both also members of YPPI's board of supervisors, gave the money to Rusli to be distributed to lawmakers Hamka Yandhu and Antony Zeidra Abidin.
Aulia also acknowledged that Rp 68.5 million was given to five former BI officials to cover their legal expenses. The money was distributed by Oey for the five officials who were implicated in BLBI cases -- Paul Sutopo, Hendro Budiyanto, Heru Soepraptomo, Iwan Prawiranata and Soedradjad Djiwandono.
Bun Bunan, who also testified in the trial session, said BI directors later covered up the disbursements to the five officials as loans after the BPK found the distributions in a 2006 audit. He said the officials were summoned to sign loan letters at Burhanuddin's office.
The Jakarta Post, 17 Jul 2008
Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's son, however, admitted to his role in disbursing some of the money to lawmakers during Burhanuddin's graft trial Wednesday.
Aulia withdrew his earlier testimony in the trial session that former governor Burhanuddin endorsed a decision by the BI board of directors meeting to disburse money from the bank's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) for lawmakers and former senior BI officials on June 3, 2003.
He said that in the meeting, former deputy governor Bun Bunan Hutapea suggested using the YPPI fund for the disbursement as BI had no budget allocation for it.
According to him, former BI legal affairs deputy Oey Hoey Tiong agreed with Bun Bunan, saying it was legally possible. Bun Bunan later said the YPPI had more than Rp 200 billion in its fund.
"Then Burhanuddin said, 'if that's the case, set aside Rp 100 million (from the fund)'," Aulia told the court.
However, he rescinded his testimony following Burhanuddin's objection.
"I decided to change my testimony, because Burhanuddin refused to admit it," he told the panel of judges.
Presiding Judge Gusrizal asked Aulia twice whether he would stick to his testimony.
During the trial, Aulia also admitted giving orders to former head of the BI communications bureau, Rusli Simanjuntak, to disburse a total of Rp 31.5 billion of the money to members of the House of Representatives' then Commission IX (now Commission XI overseeing financial affairs).
"The money was needed to support a political settlement to address the disclaimer status given to the bank in a financial report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) related to BI liquidity support (BLBI) funds," he said.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in its indictment against Burhanuddin said the money was also related to the work of then Commission IX in amending the law on the central bank.
The KPK said Aulia and fellow deputy governor Maman Somantri, both also members of YPPI's board of supervisors, gave the money to Rusli to be distributed to lawmakers Hamka Yandhu and Antony Zeidra Abidin.
Aulia also acknowledged that Rp 68.5 million was given to five former BI officials to cover their legal expenses. The money was distributed by Oey for the five officials who were implicated in BLBI cases -- Paul Sutopo, Hendro Budiyanto, Heru Soepraptomo, Iwan Prawiranata and Soedradjad Djiwandono.
Bun Bunan, who also testified in the trial session, said BI directors later covered up the disbursements to the five officials as loans after the BPK found the distributions in a 2006 audit. He said the officials were summoned to sign loan letters at Burhanuddin's office.
The Jakarta Post, 17 Jul 2008
Comments