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.