Former BNI director detained over scam<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Former compliance director of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)
\nMohammad Arsjad was officially detained on Wednesday at the
\nNational Police Headquarters for his alleged role in a high-
\nprofile lending scam in 2003.<\/p>\n
Police investigator Sr. Comr. Benny Mamoto said that he signed
\nthe arrest warrant on Wednesday afternoon, and the police made
\nthe arrest at a five-star hotel here.<\/p>\n
Benny refused to provide further details about Arsjad's case.<\/p>\n
The BNI case centered on the issuance of fictitious letters of
\ncredit by the state-controlled bank's Kebayoran Baru branch, in
\nSouth Jakarta, causing the state to suffer some Rp 1.7 trillion
\n(US$170 million) in financial losses.<\/p>\n
The loan scam was made possible due to collusion between
\ncertain bank officials and a number of businessmen linked to a
\ncompany called PT Gramarindo.<\/p>\n
Businessman Adrian Waworuntu has been sentenced to life in
\nprison by the South Jakarta District Court for his key role in
\nthe scam.<\/p>\n
But that was after being allowed to flee the country after he
\nwas named a suspect, allegedly due to police assistance.<\/p>\n
Former head of the investigative team assigned to the case
\nBrig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko and his subordinate Sr. Comr. Irman
\nSantosa both have been detained for receiving bribes from Adrian.<\/p>\n
Irman previously testified that two police generals, former
\npolice chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and former chief of detectives
\nComr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng received bribes from Arsjad.<\/p>\n
The bribes were apparently intended to influence the senior
\nofficers to halt the investigation into the bank fraud.<\/p>\n
However, so far the police have not publicly announced if
\nthere is concrete evidence of the two generals' involvement in
\nthe case.<\/p>\n
Arsjad's lawyer T. Nasrullah said that his client was arrested
\nbecause of his failure to report the graft in the first place.<\/p>",
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