Adrian may have fled the country: Police

Adrian may have fled the country: Police

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Adrian Waworuntu, one of the key suspects in the Bank Negara
Indonesia (BNI) Rp 1.7 trillion (US$185 million) scandal, may
have left the country using an assumed identity, police said on
Wednesday.

Adrian's lawyer Doni Antares Irawan, who was declared a
suspect last Tuesday for giving false information about his
client, has been summoned to police headquarters to undergo
questioning on Thursday.

National police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said police had
searched for Adrian but failed to find him.

Paiman suggested Adrian may have left Indonesia under a false
name because police had coordinated with the immigration office
to prevent him from departing.

"I think it is possible he has fled the country. We have
checked with immigration and no one using such a name has
traveled abroad," Paiman said.

National police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung
Sudjono said on Wednesday if the police could not find Adrian in
Indonesia, they would ask for international agency Interpol's
help to capture him internationally.

Many have questioned why police released Adrian in the first
place, and then failed to monitor his movements. Other key
suspects in the case have already fled overseas to evade
prosecution.

Police first detained Adrian, a director of Gramarindo Group,
which manipulated loans worth Rp 1.7 trillion from BNI, but set
him free after state prosecutors rejected his case file several
times due to weak evidence.

After several delays, state prosecutors declared early in
September that Adrian's case was complete and ready for trial. As
a consequence, police were to hand Adrian over to the
prosecutors.

Adrian was ordered to present himself to police, but he
ignored the first summons. Instead of searching for Adrian,
police chose to issue a second summons. At that time Doni asked
for a seven-day stay for his client so he could recuperate in
hospital from an unspecified illness. Police granted Doni's
request without bothering to find out what Adrian was sick from.

Doni promised Adrian would surrender to the police on Oct. 1
and told them Adrian was in Kotamobagu in Bolaang Mongandow,
North Sulawesi.

Adrian never showed, and police declared him a fugitive on
Friday.