Former Bank Indonesia top officials on trial in major graft case

Jakarta - Four former deputy governors of Bank Indonesia, including an in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, went on trial on Friday for their alleged role in a multi-million-dollar embezzlement case that has embroiled the central bank. Prosecutors accused the four defendants - Aulia Pohan, Bunbunan Hutapea, Maman Sumantri and Aslim Tadjuddin - of misusing 100 billion rupiah (8.8 million dollars) from a foundation run by Bank Indonesia in 2003. The indictment said 31 billion rupiah of the money was used to bribe legislators who were conducting an inquiry into the alleged misuse of central bank bailout funds injected to troubled banks at the height of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The money was also intended to influence legislators discussing an amendment of the central bank law, prosecutors said. The remainder was spent on legal expenses for sitting and former Bank Indonesia officials facing prosecution over the alleged misuse of the bailout funds, the indictment said. The defendants could face 20 years in jail if found guilty under the country's anti-corruption law. Under public pressure and following court testimony from other suspects in the case, investigators from the powerful Corruption Eradication Commission arrested Pohan, whose daughter is married to the eldest son of President Yudhoyono in November. Pohan was the last Bank Indonesia official to be detained. The defendants' chief lawyer, Otto Kaligis, said his clients were innocent because the money they used belonged to the foundation, not Bank Indonesia, and therefore their action caused no loss to the state. 'They were acting in their personal capacity, not as Bank Indonesia officials,' he told reporters. Earlier this month, the anti-corruption court sentenced two legislators, Anthony Zeidra Abidin and Hamka Yandhu, to four-and-a-half years and three years respectively for accepting banker's the bribe money. In October, a former central bank governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, was jailed for five years for his role in the embezzlement case. Two other senior central bank officials, Oey Hoeng Tiong and Rusli Simanjuntak, were each sentenced to four years in prison. The central bank has undergone a series of reforms after various corruption investigations in the past decade. Indonesia ranks as one of the world's most corruption-prone countries. Over the past year, investigations by the powerful Corruption Eradication Commission have led to the arrest of several high-profile figures, including a top prosecutor, businessmen and legislators. Since Yudhoyono won Indonesia's first direct presidential elections in 2004 on pledges to root out corruption, officials including governors and former ministers have been jailed on graft charges.