BRI fraud suspects surrender<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Two of the leading suspects in the Rp 294 billion (US$34.5) Bank
\nRakyat Indonesia (BRI) loan scandal surrendered to the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office on Monday night.<\/p>\n
However, Bank Indonesia, the central bank, is still dragging
\nits heels in providing assistance to investigators, including
\nproviding the names of holders of frozen accounts.<\/p>\n
Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rachman said Tuesday that Yudi
\nKartolo and Hartono, owners of a company used to allegedly
\nchannel money from BRI, were being held at Salemba prison in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
\"With their arrests, we hope that we can quickly solve the
\ncase without wasting much more time.\"<\/p>\n
Kemas would not comment on results of the initial questioning,
\nstressing the process was still underway.<\/p>\n
Also in custody are Jakarta's BRI Senen branch head Deden
\nGumilar, Bogor's BRI Surya Kencana branch head Asep Tarwan and
\nJakarta's Tanah Abang branch head Agus Riyanto.<\/p>\n
The office has questioned 20 witnesses and frozen 29 accounts
\ninto which the money was allegedly channeled. The combined
\nbalance of the accounts is Rp 100 billion.<\/p>\n
\"We are still waiting for Bank Indonesia's approval to examine
\nthe (29) accounts. We hope the approval will be granted as soon
\nas possible. We want to know the names of the account holders,\"
\nKemas said.<\/p>\n
Both Yudi and Hartono are the owners of PT Delta Makmur
\nExperindo, the company that was allegedly used as a vehicle to
\ntake money from the three BRI branches.<\/p>\n
Yudi is reported to be an old hand in orchestrating banking
\nfraud, because of his alleged involvement in the Rp 1.1 trillion
\nBank Negara Indonesia (BNI) fraud in 2001.<\/p>\n
The BRI case is the second major fraud cases reported in the
\nlast three months, following the revelation of a Rp 1.7 trillion
\nlending scam at BNI in October.<\/p>\n
Many are worried the scandals are just the beginning of a
\nseries of banking fraud cases in Indonesia. President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri urged law enforces on Monday to treat the cases
\nseriously.<\/p>",
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