Access given to BRI accounts
Access given to BRI accounts
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Four Bank BCA branch managers have given prosecutors access to
all accounts to which the money stolen from state-owned Bank
Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) was allegedly channeled, only after the
Jakarta Prosecutor's Office threatened to name them suspects if
they refused to cooperate.
"After our warning, the heads of BCA branches in Kuningan,
GKBI building, Matraman and Pasar Baru have allowed us to check
all the accounts related to the scandal today," Marwan Effendi,
the assistant to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office chief for
special crimes, said.
He said the prosecutor's office put heavy pressure on the
branch managers after securing approval from Bank Indonesia (BI).
The request for access to the accounts was made on Monday, but
there was no response until the prosecutors threatened to ensnare
them in the bank fraud, which caused Rp 294 billion (US$34.5
million) in losses.
"We will start examining the accounts tomorrow (Thursday)
because the branch heads notified us about the access only this
afternoon. We hope more names and funds can be revealed," said
Marwan.
The loan scandal was allegedly orchestrated by several BRI
officials and two businessmen in three BRI branches.
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office has named three BRI officials
and two businessmen as suspects and is currently holding them in
detention. The three BRI officials are Central Jakarta's BRI
Senen branch head Deden Gumilar, Bogor's Surya Kencana sub-branch
head Asep Tarwan and Central Jakarta's sub-head Agus Riyanto. The
two businessmen are the owner of PT Delta Makmur Experindo Yudi
Kartolo and his director Hartono.
Investigators have questioned over 20 witnesses and frozen 29
accounts into which the money was allegedly siphoned. The
combined balance of the accounts amounts to Rp 100 million.
"We have examined nine of the 29 accounts in North Jakarta's
BCA Pluit branch, Central Jakarta's BRI Senen branch, Bogor's
Surya Kencana's branch and South Jakarta's BCA Kemang branch. We
have withhold Rp 60 billion of the funds in a secure account at
the Senen branch," said Marwan.
The nine accounts bear the names of Henry Gozali, Dony
Maulana, Yohannes Eka Negara and Yudi Kartolo himself.
"These could be new suspects or just other names used by Yudi
and Hartono," said Marwan.
He added that two witnesses had handed over Rp 1 billion
voluntarily to the prosecutors.
Marwan said his office had completed the questioning of the
detainees as witnesses and he was preparing the dossiers. They
will face more questioning as suspects soon.
The investigators have also planned to question two experts in
banking transactions from BRI and BI.
"We will question them on Friday because we must become
familiar with all the BRI and BI regulations regarding this kind
of transaction," said Marwan.
Meanwhile, National Police interrogated one more suspect
related to the Rp 1.7 trillion Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)
scandal.
"We are questioning the former BNI head of Region 10 Heru
Sarjono as a witness to clarify the role of BNI officials in the
region," said National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen.
Soenarko.
Heru is the younger brother of Edi Santoso, another suspect in
the case.