Adrian too sick to come: Lawyer

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A lawyer representing Adrian Waworuntu, one of the main suspects in a Rp 1.7 trillion (US$190 million) bank scandal, told the police on Thursday his client was too sick to answer a police summons.

Lawyer Doni Antares Irawan said Adrian was still hospitalized in Manado, North Sulawesi, and asked that the police give him at least seven days to recuperate.

"My client is too sick and I have asked that he be given seven days for his treatment. I guarantee that Adrian will be here on Oct. 1. If he does not turn himself in, then arrest him," Doni told The Jakarta Post without elaborating on the nature of his client's illness.

Adrian was summoned to National Police Headquarters in Jakarta on Wednesday but failed to show up, prompting the police to issue a warning that they would arrest him.

Doni said police accepted that his client was ill and agreed to delay the summons for seven days.

The National Police's director of economic crimes, Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, acknowledged that Adrian's lawyer had approached him about the matter.

"I will check his condition first before granting him the time. We will send a team of doctors to check his health," said Ismoko.

Police were expected to hand over Adrian to the prosecutor's office as soon as Thursday, following an announcement by prosecutors that his case file had been completed for two weeks.

The police seem to have had trouble locating Adrian, as he has not been in police custody since early this year.

Many have speculated that Adrian is out of the police's reach, and the claims of illness are simply a tactic to avoid justice.

Another main suspect in the case, Maria Pauline Lumowa, the owner of the Gramarindo Group, was able to avoid arrest by fleeing abroad.

Several businesspeople from the Gramarindo and Petindo groups are accused of misusing Rp 1.7 trillion from Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)'s Kebayoran Baru branch in 2002. Authorities accuse the businesspeople of using bogus letters of credit allegedly issued by banks in Congo and Kenya.

Police have named a total of 15 people as suspects in the case. Two of them, Koesadiyuwono and Edi Santoso from the BNI Kebayoran Baru branch, have been sentenced to 15 years and life in prison, respectively. Several other suspects are now being tried at the South Jakarta District Court.