Evidence too week to charge Adrian, prosecutor says<\/p>\n
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A senior prosecutor said on Thursday the police had failed to
\nprovide adequate evidence for indictment against businessman
\nAdrian Woworuntu, a key suspect in the Bank National Indonesia
\n(BNI) scandal.<\/p>\n
Marwan Effendi, the assistant for special crimes at the
\nJakarta Prosecutor's Office said that according to Article 183 of
\nthe Criminal Code Procedures, the police must present evidence
\nthat a criminal action actually happened and that the suspect was
\nguilty of the crime.<\/p>\n
According to Marwan, the case file submitted by the police was
\nweak because none of the witnesses or evidence supported the
\naccusation based on Article 2 of Law No. 31\/1999 on corruption
\neradication and Article 3 or 6 of Law No. 15\/2002 on money
\nlaundering, which were used by the police to charge Adrian.<\/p>\n
Adrian has been released after 120 days in police detention,
\nthe maximum detention period for a suspect who is undergoing
\npolice investigation.<\/p>\n
He is the co-owner of Gramarindo, a business group that
\nreportedly received Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) from
\npublicly listed BNI in the form of 41 bogus letters of credit
\nissued by some unreliable foreign banks. The other owner is Maria
\nPaulien Lumowa, who is still at large.<\/p>\n
Marwan said none of the witnesses questioned saw, or heard of,
\nor took part in the crime allegedly committed by Adrian.<\/p>\n
The dossier submitted by the police, according to Marwan,
\nfailed to reflect Article 55 Paragraph 1 on the participation in
\nan offense and Article 56 Paragraph 1 on the assistance in a
\ncrime.<\/p>\n
\"So far, there is no evidence which proves that Adrian had
\ntransferred the money, nor were there any documents related with
\nAdrian's signature,\" said Marwan.<\/p>\n
He admitted that cases of corruption and money laundering were
\nvery hard to prosecute, especially if the perpetrators were
\nprofessional and knew how to exploit loopholes in the law.<\/p>\n
\"The release of Adrian Woworuntu is just a logical consequence
\nof the investigation,\" said Marwan.<\/p>\n
Marwan added that if, in the end, the police could not provide
\nthe prosecutors with appropriate witnesses or evidence, then
\nAdrian would be acquitted.<\/p>\n
Rashid Lubis from Police Watch sees the case as a lack of
\nknowledge of advanced banking law among the police.<\/p>\n
\"There should be a forum within the police to help them face
\ncriminal cases related to banking,\" said Rashid.<\/p>\n
Such a forum, according to Rashid, would help police deal with
\nbanking cases, and how to determine which of the existing laws
\ncould be applied.<\/p>\n
Most alleged bank fraud cases that were brought to court
\nresulted in the acquittal of the defendants or lenient
\npunishments.<\/p>\n
Criminologist Adrianus Meliala from the University of
\nIndonesia said there were several possible obstacles to bringing
\na suspect in a bank scam to trial.<\/p>\n
\"It was possible there was a conspiracy between the police and
\nseveral parties who wanted Adrian to be freed by intentionally
\nbuying time until the legal detention period expired, the police
\nfound it hard to comply with the law, or that the prosecutors
\nwere trying to discourage the police by asking too much,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/evidence-too-week-to-charge-adrian-prosecutor-says-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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