After 14 months of prolonged trials, the Governor of Bank Indonesia, Sjahril Sabirin, was finally sentenced to three years in jail on Wednesday for his involvement in the disbursement of Rp 904 billion (US$90.4 million) of Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) funds to privately run Bank Bali in 1999.
The Central Jakarta District Court also fined the defendant Rp 15 million or a further three months in jail.
When hearing the verdict, Sjahril was clearly shocked, as were the other two defendants--businessman and director to factoring firm PT EGP Djoko S. Tjandra and former IBRA deputy chairman Pande N. Lubis--who were acquitted of all charges related to the scandal in August and November 2000 respectively. He expressed optimism last week that the judges would release him from the corruption charge.
