Police begin questioning BDB, Asiatic officials<\/p>\n
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police have started to question three top ranking officials of
\nrecently closed banks over their alleged role in a Rp 1.2
\ntrillion (US$139 million) transaction that exceeded the legal
\nlending limit allowed under banking law.<\/p>\n
The three are former president director of Bank Dagang
\nBali(BDB) I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana, former president director
\nof Bank Asiatic F.B. Surendro and former fund and marketing
\ndirector of Bank Asiatic Made Budiana. The two banks are owned by
\ntwo families related by marriage.<\/p>\n
The police have yet to make an official statement on the
\ninterrogation process. A high-ranking official within the
\nNational Police, who declined to be named, said that the two
\nAsiatic officials would also be detained by the criminal and
\ninvestigations bureau.<\/p>\n
The questioning of F.B. Surendro and Made Budiana started on
\nMonday at 11 a.m. and lasted for more than eight hours, while the
\ninterrogation of Oka Budiana began on Friday after police
\narrested him at his office in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
First director of the economic and specific crimes division
\nBrig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko said that the police would charge Oka
\nBudiana under banking legislation.<\/p>\n
Separately, Hotman Paris, the lawyer for Tong Muk Keung,
\nAsiatic's majority shareholder, said that his client had already
\nconfirmed that he would present himself for questioning on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Hotman questioned the summons, saying that as a nonoperational
\nofficial, his client was not really involved in daily,
\noperational decision-making.<\/p>\n
\"The police need to state more precisely the possible
\ninvolvement of my client in this case, because as a shareholder,
\nMr. Tong was not an operational official, like directors or
\ncommissioners,\" said Hotman.<\/p>\n
Bank Indonesia (BI) spokesman Rusli Simanjuntak said that
\nnonoperational officials still had a strong influence in a case
\nlike this.<\/p>\n
\"There are strong indications that the banks' majority
\nshareholders had a strong influence on the directors' decision-
\nmaking, especially in granting credit approval for affiliated
\ncompanies, which later turned out to be fictitious,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rusli said that during the interrogation, a team from BI would
\nassist the police investigation team with information and
\nsupporting documentation.<\/p>\n
Included in several of the documents submitted by BI as
\nevidence are the banks' accounting books, copies of transaction
\ndocuments and notes of meetings.<\/p>\n
\"The meeting we held with prosecutors and police investigation
\nteams determined that we have sufficient evidence to proceed with
\nthe case,\" said Rusli.<\/p>\n
According to BI, the problem centered on a number of alleged
\nlending frauds and legal lending limit infractions committed by
\nthe two banks.<\/p>\n
BDB placed funds with Asiatic in the form of interbank loans
\nand negotiable certificates of deposit (NCD). The funds were
\nlater used as loan collateral by the son of BDB's majority
\nstakeholder, I Gusti Made Oka, who is married to a daughter of
\nBank Asiatic's owner, Tong Muk Keung.<\/p>\n
The amount in loans provided to the son of BDB's owner
\nexceeded the legal lending limit allowed by banking law of only
\n10 percent of its lending exposure. The loans accounted for 70
\npercent of the bank's total assets of Rp 1.7 trillion.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-begin-questioning-bdb-asiatic-officials-1447893297",
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