Bank owner evades charges<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police have halted investigation into Tong Muk Keung, the
\nmajority shareholder of the now defunct Asiatic Bank, in an
\nalleged bank fraud and changed his status to witness.<\/p>\n
National Police director I of Economic and Specific Crimes
\nDivision, Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko said on Thursday there was not
\nenough evidence to implicate Tong in the case.<\/p>\n
Ismoko said, despite the change in his status, Tong would have
\nto report to the National Police Headquarters twice a week.<\/p>\n
Tong was declared a suspect on April 8 and banned from
\ntraveling abroad thereafter. At that time, he was suspected of
\ninvolvement in alleged lending frauds amounting to Rp 1.2
\ntrillion (US$139 million) and involving the recently closed down
\nAsiatic Bank and Bank Dagang Bali (BDB).<\/p>\n
Bank Indonesia (BI) spokesman Rusli Simanjuntak said that
\nalthough majority shareholders were not operational officials,
\nthere was strong suspicion that they had influence over the
\ndirectors' decision-making, especially in credit approval for
\naffiliated companies -- which later turned out to be fictitious.<\/p>\n
According to BI, the alleged lending frauds occurred when BDB
\nplaced funds in Asiatic in the form of interbank loans and
\nNegotiable Certificates of Deposit (NCD). These funds were later
\nused as loan collateral by the son of BDB's majority stakeholder,
\nI Gusti Made Oka, who is married to Tong's daughter.<\/p>\n
The amount of loans provided exceeded the legal lending limit
\nallowed by banking law of only 10 percent of its lending
\nexposure. The loans accounted for 70 percent of the bank's total
\nassets of Rp 1.7 trillion.<\/p>\n
With acquittal of Tong, there are eight former shareholders,
\ndirectors and managers of BDB and Bank Asia named suspects in the
\nbank fraud.<\/p>\n
Five of them -- FB Surendro (former president director) and
\nMade Budiana (former fund marketing director) from Bank Asiatic,
\nand I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana (former chief commissioner), I Gde
\nWibawa (former treasury official) and I Nengah Suwardhana (former
\nJakarta branch head) of BDB -- are being detained for the purpose
\nof the investigation.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bank-owner-evades-charges-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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