JONATHAN Marauw was driving in silence. From the time he set off from Bank Indonesia (BI) headquarters in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, the two passengers, Rusli Simandjuntak and Asnar Ashari—both BI senior officials—were also quiet. It was mid-September 2003. Jonathan could sense from the passengers’ behavior that they were carrying out a secret mission.

“At that time a black suitcase was placed on the rear seat,” said Jonathan, 57, reminiscing. When met by Tempo at his home in Curug, Tangerang, Banten, last week, Jonathan, who hails from Maluku, has now retired. Jon was sure the suitcase had money in it. “But I didn’t know how much it was.”

A short while later, the blue Mazda E-2000 van of BI entered the yard of a very large house somewhere in Gandaria, South Jakarta. According to Rusli’s confession to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the house was the residence of Antony Zeidra Abidin, a Golkar politician at the House of Representatives (DPR). The Rp6 billion in the black suitcase was then handed over. Antony himself has been denying that he played such an important role in the alleged Bi corruption.

Jonathan’s testimony gives valuable additional information about the graft scandal involving Rp100 billion owned by the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation. The KPK believes that this case involved not only top officials of the central bank but also its lowly employees. BI senior officials already detained are among others former Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, former head of Governor’s Bureau Rusli Simandjuntak, and Deputy Director for Legal Affairs, Oey Hoey Tiong.

THE meeting of the BI board of governors was on Tuesday, June 3, 2003. Aside from Burhanuddin Abdullah, also present were BI deputy governors Aulia Pohan, Bun Bunan Hutapea, and Aslim Tadjuddin. This was Burhanuddin’s first meeting as the new BI Governor.

Burhanuddin opened the meeting with a surprising introduction: “We need incidental funds for the efforts to restore Bank Indonesia’s image, both to the public and in a political sense,” he said. At that time, BI was at its lowest state. Its performance and management received criticisms. With its financial audit status still negative, BI was really in trouble.

However, that day Burhanuddin, former Coordinating Minister for the Economy during the Abdurrahman Wahid administration, did not talk only about how to improve the central bank image but also touched on the continuing legal process that former members of the BI board of directors had to go through.

Burhanuddin: “...the funds are needed to safeguard the position of Bank Indonesia in facing the legal process linked with the task of Bank Indonesia as a central bank.”

Aulia Pohan: “But the budget does not provide funds for that activity. If we propose a budget, it will take a long time, while the problem that needs to be handled is urgent.”

Bun Bunan Hutapea: “There’s Bank Indonesia fund at the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation. It’s large enough, about Rp250 billion. We can use Rp100 billion of it.”

The meeting finally approved the suggestion. Aulia and Maman Somantri, two BI deputy governors and also members of the board of supervisors of the Banking Foundation, were asked to help expedite the channeling of the Foundation’s Rp100 billion to the central bank. The money would be spent on funding all the central bank’s “incidental and urgent” activities. It is easy to guess: it was from here that the scandal started.

The testimony about the debate during the meeting held on June 3, 2003 came from a statement made by Aulia Pohan to KPK investigators last February. Burhanuddin’s attorney, Muhammad Assegaf, did not deny Aulia’s story. “There was indeed a suggestion in the meeting to discuss a request for dissemination funds for the DPR and the legal aid,” he said.

When asked for his confirmation, Bun Bunan was tight-lipped. When met at his house last week, he politely refused to comment on his suggestion in the meeting held in early June 2003. “Sorry. I cannot give any comment,” he said.

The June 3, 2003 meeting was indeed an important part in the story behind the alleged bribery. It was the outcome of the meeting that became the basis for the disbursement of the deposit owned by the Indonesian Banking Development Foundation which was spread in at least four national commercial banks. The first disbursement of Rp2 billion took place on June 27, 2003. The last, on December 4, 2003, the Foundation gave Rp6 billion to the Social and Public Development Committee, a special team set up by the BI board of governors for the purpose of lobbying the DPR. It was this money that Jonathan Warauw took to a house in Gandaria, South Jakarta. Throughout 2003, there were 11 disbursements of the Foundation funds to BI.

SPEAKING to KPK investigators last April, Asnar Ashari, senior analyst of Bank Indonesia, explained how the politicians in the DPR could easily be “subdued” by the temptation of money from the central bank.

A day before a political decision of the DPR Finance & Banking Commission was made on July 3, 2003, the draft of the decision was given to BI “to be studied first.” According to Asnar, BI even got the honor to “provide input in relation with the matters that it wishes to be included in the draft of this political decision.”

Asnar refused to be interviewed. Last week Tempo visited his residence in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, several times but could only meet his close relative. “Bapak is out of town and we don’t know when he will be back,” said the relative, who preferred anonymity.

Of the total Rp100 billion Bank Indonesia tactical fund in 2003, actually only Rp31.5 billion made its way to the DPR. The remaining Rp68.5 billion flowed to other places. The recipients were former members of the board of governors and directors of Bank Indonesia. Soedradjad Djiwandono and Iwan Prawiranata received Rp25 billion and Rp13.5 billion, respectively. Three other directors—Paul Sutopo, Hendro Budianto and Heru Supraptomo—each received Rp10 billion.

Interestingly, besides those funds, the five of them also received legal aid “subsidy” of Rp27.7 billion from BI’s official budget. Indeed, they did not receive the money which was given directly to the lawyers accompanying Soedradjad and his colleagues.

That was why an official of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) could directly smell irregularities. “If there was allocation of legal aid fund from the official budget, why should the board of governors disburse special funds from the Banking Foundation for the same purpose?” he said. In other words, it is believed that the Rp68.5 billion from BI’s tactical fund account did not only stop at the accounts of the lawyers and formers members of the board of governors and directors of the central bank.

THE traces of the funds disbursement for BI’s “incidental and urgent” needs were neatly covered up. It is not surprising that the scandal could only be disclosed two years later.

The BPK audit in 2005, for example, found an effort to waive the Rp100 billion funds from both the bookkeeping records of the Foundation and BI. The evidence is a letter from the Chairman of the Banking Development Foundation Executive Board, Baridjussalam Hadi, and his treasurer, Ratnawati Priyono, to the board of supervisors on July 25, 2003. The letter asked for an approval to reduce the initial assets of the Foundation. “This is clearly bookkeeping manipulation,” said a Tempo source at BPK.

In addition, the disbursement of the funds from the Banking Foundation deposits to the hands of the couriers of the Social and Public Development Committee was carried out in a very careful manner. On July 28, 2003, for example, Baridjussalam and Ratnawati again asked for the approval of the Foundation’s board of supervisors—namely Aulia Pohan and Maman Somantri—that the funds from the deposits already disbursed should be transferred first to the special account of the Foundation at BI before the money was channeled to the Rusli Simandjuntak and Oey Hoey Tiong teams.

This winding scheme had to be taken to “avoid questions.” If Rusli’s team withdraws billions of rupiah from commercial banks, the Law on Money Laundering Crime requires that the origin of the fund must be explained clearly. This regulation does not apply in transactions through an account in the central bank.

Regarding this alleged connivance, BPK Chairman, Anwar Nasution, only gave a short comment: “This is a serious crime committed by a group of the central bank’s high-ranking officials.”

Until last week, Aulia and Maman Somantri could not be asked for their comment. This week the two of them and Aslim Tadjuddin are scheduled to give their testimony at the Corruption Court in Central Jakarta. Obviously, many are waiting to hear their testimony.