Adrian jailed for life
Adrian jailed for life
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A court here sentenced on Wednesday businessman Adrian Herling
Waworuntu to life imprisonment for his involvement in a 2002
multi-million dollar scam.
The sentence may be good news for President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, who recently admitted that his antigraft drive had
borne little fruit.
The panel of three judges, presided over by Roki Pandjaitan,
ruled that the former banker was guilty in the scandal worth Rp
1.2 trillion (US$127.8 million), involving Bank Negara Indonesia
(BNI).
The 54-year-old businessman was also ordered to pay Rp 300
billion in compensation for state losses and a Rp 1 billion fine.
"The defendant enriched himself, or others, through his
activities," Roki told the South Jakarta District Court, reading
out the verdict.
He said the case was a major reason why numerous international
organizations had ranked Indonesia as one of the world's most
corrupt nations.
"Embezzlers must be punished as severely as possible because
the crime is capable of destroying the economy and degrading the
nation's morals," Roki added.
The judges said Adrian had been found guilty of violating the
anticorruption and anti-money laundering laws and that he had
done nothing that could mitigate his sentence.
"The defendant covered up (the involvement of) other parties
in the case during his trials," Roki explained.
The life sentence matched prosecutor's demands against Adrian.
Adrian was arrested last year after he fled for months to
Singapore and the United States to escape police investigation.
He allegedly bribed a number of high-ranking officials in charge
of his case.
In response, the defendant, who bowed his head during the
final court hearing, said the verdict was "extremely non
objective and lacked quality".
"I will appeal. I want the verdict to be based on something
more substantial than a replication of the prosecutor's charges,"
he said after the trial.
Adrian was brought to court for his role as the financial
advisor of fugitive key suspect Maria Pauline Lumowa, the owner
of Gramarindo Group. It is believed that she is hiding in
Singapore.
The fraud case centers around the disbursement of Rp 1.2
trillion through fake letters of credit from BNI's South Jakarta
Kebayoran Baru branch to Gramarindo and PT Petindo.
The bank disbursed the money to the companies that claimed to
have obtained orders from Kenya and other African countries to
export sand and commodities.
With the help of BNI officials -- who have been jailed for
their involvement in the case -- it channeled the funds without
checking the validity of the letters of credit.
Adrian is the ninth of a total of 17 suspects convicted or
tried in the BNI scandal. The first eight suspects were all
sentenced to prison. John Hamenda was sentenced to 20 years'
imprisonment Olla Abdullah Agam, Aprilla Widata and Adrian
Pandelaki, 15 years each; Richard Kountul, 10 years, and Titik
Pristiwati, eight years.
BNI Kebayoran Baru head Koesadiyuwono, meanwhile, received 15
years, while Edi Santoso, the branch's customer service head was
sentenced to life imprisonment last year.