Former Indonesia Cent. Bank Head Jailed For Graft

Former Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin had complied with a summons and had been taken to Cipinang prison in Jakarta.

Indonesia on Tuesday jailed a former central bank governor for corruption after the Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling in a case involving a bank bailout in the late 1990s, a lawyer said.

Former Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin had complied with a summons and had been taken to Cipinang prison in Jakarta, said Muhammad Assegaf, one of Sabirin's lawyers.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that Sabirin and businessman Djoko Chandra were guilty of graft in the case linked to funds channeled from a central bank bailout fund to a small private lender, Bank Bali, after the Asian financial crisis.

The Supreme Court ruling overturned an earlier court decision that had set the defendants free.

"The judicial review proved the conduct of the crime of corruption and sentenced (the defendants) to two years in prison," Hatta Ali, a Supreme Court spokesman, said last week.

Sabirin was originally sentenced to three years in jail by a Jakarta court in 2002.

Sabirin's lawyer said his client denied any wrongdoing and would appeal against the Supreme Court ruling.

"Mr Sjahril Sabirin was ready to meet the summons and this morning he went to the prosecutors' office for administration procedures and then was taken to Cipinang prison," Assegaf said.

The other defendant, Djoko Chandra, had not yet complied with the summons to go to the prosecutors office by Tuesday afternoon, according to an official.

"If he (Djoko Chandra) does not come, we will hunt for him and his family to find his whereabouts and also coordinate with immigration to see whether he has left Indonesia or not," Setia Untung Ari Mulyadi, head of the South Jakarta prosecutors' office, said in comments broadcast by Metro Television.

The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking a second term in July, has made headway tackling endemic graft in Indonesia but corruption is still widespread.

The scandal over the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Fund (BLBI) extended to a string of banks and billions of dollars have still have not been accounted for or recovered.