Bankers arrested for fraud

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: The local prosecution office is currently investigating two senior bank executives, suspected to have embezzled a total of Rp 1.5 billion from the regional government bank BPD Lampung.

The two men held strategic posts in the bank's branch in Metro, Central Lampung, allowing them to siphon off large sums of funds virtually undetected since 1990, said Antasari, assistant to the special criminal prosecutor.

The prosecutors said the two men in 1990 approached about 200 farmers offering to arrange loans for them. As collateral they asked the farmers to submit their land titles, the Antara news agency reported.

It was not until recently that a number of farmers returned to the bank asking for a follow up on their credit applications, prompting the bank to conduct investigations because in their books the loans had been extended.

Antasari did not rule out the possibility that other executives may have been involved in the scam. (11)