KPK not Protecting Aulia Pohan
Friday, 18 April, 2008 | 15:46 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Head of Commission to Eradicate Corruption (KPK) Antasari Azhar has confirmed that KPK is not protecting Aulia Pohan, a former member of the Bank Indonesia (BI) board of governors, in relation to the case involving the flow of BI funds to Parliament.

“Let the legal process proceed,” said Antasari in Jakarta, yesterday (17/4).

“This process is still ongoing, so do not make any conclusions at the present time,” he continued.

Samad Riyanto, the KPK deputy for early corruption prevention, said that there would be new suspects from among former BI officials.

Samad could not confirm when KPK will announce the names of these new suspects.

“There will certainly be new suspects,” he said, adding that KPK was still awaiting sufficient evidence.

“Please respect the legal, investigation and summons process,” continued Samad.

So far, KPK has declared three suspects from inside BI.

They are former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, head of the Surabaya BI branch Rusli Simanjuntak, and BI legal director Oey Hoey Tiong.

Burhanuddin has been detained since 10 April at the Indonesian police headquarters, while Rusli and Oey have been detained at the Jakarta regional police station since 14 February.

These former BI officials are suspected of being involved in the scandal surrounding the alleged misuse of fund from the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI), amounting to Rp100 billion.

KPK has been studying this case since last year, based on the audit report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) submitted to KPK in November 2006.

It was reported that the funds were disbursed to the finance commission at the House of Representatives (DPR) to settle the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) case.

Burhanuddin once told journalists that the decision for the use of these funds was jointly approved by the BI board of governors.

At that time, the members of the BI board were: Burhanuddin, Anwar Nasution, Aulia Pohan, R. Maulana Ibrahim, Maman H. Somantri, Bun Bunan EJ Hutapea, and Aslim Tadjuddin.

Aulia Pohan told Tempo that the approval to use the YPPI funds came from his superior.

“The Governor gave us a memo to execute it, so we did. Don't forget, there is no collective responsibility,” he said.

Pohan is certain that BI governor is responsible for this (Tempo magazine, 24 February 2008).

KPK announced more suspects from inside the DPR yesterday.

They are Hamka Yandhu and former DPR member Antony Zeidra Abidin who is now the deputy governor of Jambi.

KPK deputy Chandra M. Hamzah said these two suspects had violated the anti-corruption decree.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi SP said the decision to name them as suspects had been issued since 10 April.

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