AGO halts Sukamdani's graft probe

AGO halts Sukamdani's graft probe

JAKARTA: The Attorney General's Office has dropped its
investigation of hotelier Sukamdani Gito Sardjono and associate
Adriansyah Umar Maki for the alleged misuse of Rp 214 billion of
the state's banking emergency loans because the prosecutors had
found that no crime had been committed, deputy office spokesman
Chuck Suryosumpeno said on Monday.

Suryosumpeno confirmed Sukamdani's statement to reporters
while in Surakarta, Central Java, earlier in the day, that he was
no longer a suspect and that his travel ban had been lifted in
May which enabled him to visit Beijing twice since.

Sukamdani, the owner of Sahid Hotels and commissioner to the
now-defunct Bank Dagang Indonesia, was accused of retracting his
personal deposit totaling Rp 500 million and the deposit of the
Mangadeg Foundation he was chairing from the bank when it was in
debit in 1999.

Another suspect, the bank's director Adriansyah, was accused
of rescinding his relative's deposit. The two were also accused
of disbursing call money during the banking rush in 1999.

The prosecutors claimed that none of the payments used the
state's money. --JP