Govt urged to take action to help BNI regain assets<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Government institutions need to make a concerted effort to
\nrecover state bank BNI's Rp 1.3 billion (US$125 billion) in
\nassets, which remain in the hands of those who stole the money.<\/p>\n
BNI legal consultant Pradjoto said almost 70 percent of the
\nbank's embezzled assets had been placed in overseas banks,
\nincluding in Singapore and the U.S., while the remainder was
\nscattered in Indonesian banks.<\/p>\n
\"We are talking about a huge amount of state money here. The
\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General's Office, the
\ncourts and the National Police must take immediate action
\ntogether to retrieve BNI's assets,\" Pradjoto told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He was commenting on the failure of the police and prosecutors
\nto hand over a single rupiah to the state since police revealed
\nthe embezzlement six months ago.<\/p>\n
Pradjoto said Indonesia could claim the assets placed abroad
\nby asking the governments of the countries where the money was
\ndeposited to freeze the accounts and return the money to
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"There was a precedent when concerted efforts succeeded in
\nretrieving state money in Hendra Rahardja's case. The government
\nof Australia froze his account and later returned his money to
\nthe Indonesian government,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hendra, who died of kidney cancer in 2003, was sentenced to
\nlife imprisonment in absentia in March 2002 for corruption
\ninvolving Rp 1.95 trillion (US$200 million based on 1998 exchange
\nrates) of taxpayers' money distributed to two of his banks under
\nthe Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance program during the 1998
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government managed to recover only A$642,000
\n(Rp 4.17 billion) of the money.<\/p>\n
\"I think the government can reclaim the money as long as there
\nis a court verdict that it was earned through corruption. The
\nforeign countries concerned wouldn't want to be accused of
\nholding illegal money,\" said Pradjoto.<\/p>\n
On Thursday BNI president director Sigit Pramono announced
\nthat not a single asset had been submitted to BNI after more than
\nsix months of legal processing.<\/p>\n
It said that of Rp 1.7 trillion initially embezzled, BNI had
\nmanaged to recover Rp 400 billion through its own efforts.<\/p>\n
\"As of now, the remaining assets have not changed hands
\nbecause the suspects have many reasons to avoid doing that. I am
\nsuspicious that these funds are being used to bribe officials to
\ndelay the case, or for other purposes,\" said Pradjoto.<\/p>\n
Several businesspeople from the Gramarindo and Petindo Groups
\nwere accused of obtaining money through deception from the
\nsecond-largest bank in the country in 2003 by using letters of
\ncredit (L\/Cs) from correspondent banks in Congo and Kenya to
\nwithdraw money from BNI's Kebayoran Baru branch.<\/p>\n
The L\/Cs turned out to be fake, causing the state bank to
\nsuffer losses of Rp 1.7 trillion. Police have named 17 suspects
\nfrom BNI, Gramarindo and Petindo. Seven are being tried in the
\nSouth Jakarta court. However, the main suspect, Maria Pauline
\nLumowa, managed to escape the country.<\/p>\n
Pradjoto dismissed allegations that BNI's demand was
\npolitically motivated because it came in the wake of campaigning
\nfor the presidential election.<\/p>\n
\"It's just a coincidence that the demand for assets has been
\nraised during the election process,\" said Pradjoto.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-urged-to-take-action-to-help-bni-regain-assets-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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