BCA guards investigated over businessman torture

BCA guards investigated over businessman torture

JAKARTA (JP): City Police detectives chief Sr. Supt. Harry
Montolalu said his men suspected the involvement of several
people, including Bank Central Asia security guards, in the
torture and unlawful detention of a businessman at the bank's
headquarters earlier this week.

"Some of the suspects are security guards of BCA," Harry told
reporters at his office on Friday.

But the officer said he was unable to give more details about
the case since the investigation has not yet been fully
completed.

Harry, however, explained that his detectives were currently
focusing their investigation on the allegations of torture,
instead of the alleged credit card fraud which reportedly caused
the incident.

"We're probing the case based on the report filed with us by
Deddy, but we'll also investigate the credit card fraud allegedly
committed by him," Harry said, referring to the victim,
businessman Deddy Sujadi.

Harry vowed that he would proceed with the investigation of
the torture allegations and bring the case to the court even if
some of the suspects were police or military personnel hired by
the bank.

"If there is adequate evidence pointing to their roles in an
illegal security operation, such officers will be processed in
accordance with military or police regulations," he said.

Deddy filed the report with the Jakarta Police on Wednesday
over the mistreatment he says he suffered at the hands of BCA
employees.

He said the employees tortured him and kept him locked up from
Monday to Tuesday afternoon after accusing him of attempting to
use a fake credit card.

The 29-year-old businessman said about six or seven bank
employees tortured him and locked him up on the fourth floor of
Wisma BCA on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

Deddy said he suffered bruising and swelling around his right
eye, across his stomach and chest and on both of his legs.

The victim, who owns Krekot Laundry in Mangga Besar, West
Jakarta, said the incident began at about 2 p.m. on Monday when
he received a phone call from an acquaintance, whom he identified
as Rudy Wijaya.

Deddy said he first met Rudy last year when they arranged
togel (a local lottery scheme) numbers together, but had lost
contact with him six months ago.

"Rudy said he wanted to see me and was willing to help me
arrange some Singapore togel numbers," he told reporters.

He then met with Rudy at the ITC Mangga Dua market in West
Jakarta.

"Rudy, a wristwatch dealer, then asked me to accompany him to
buy some watches... He said he wanted to buy 10 Rolex watches
at the Jaya Makmur watch store, located on the ground floor of
the market," he said.

Rudy then became involved in a deal with the storekeeper, Mrs.
Dedeh, Deddy said. "Rudy pulled out a Standard Chartered Visa
Master credit card and gave it to her."

He said Rudy seemed nervous as the credit card was repeatedly
rejected by the credit card approval machine.

"Rudy became even more nervous when the storekeeper picked up
the phone. He then asked the storekeeper's permission to go to
the toilet," he said, adding that one of the store assistants
asked him to remain in the store after Rudy left.

Deddy said Rudy failed to return and two BCA employees
eventually showed up at the store and drove him to Wisma BCA.

The two employees were later identified as Widi and Hadi, who
work in the bank's credit card section.

Deddy said the two men locked him up in the credit card
section on the fourth floor of the building and kept him there
from 5 p.m. on Monday to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

"I was interrogated by the bank's employees. Six or seven
employees tortured me, hitting and kicking me," he said, adding
that he was not given any food during his detention.

He alleged the employees demanded that he return the bank's
money, which they said had been obtained using the fake credit
card.

"They asked me to pay Rp 30 million and forced me to surrender
the ownership documents for my Astrea Supra motorcycle," said
Deddy, who was accompanied by his mother at police headquarters.

Meanwhile, Widi of BCA said the bank suspected Deddy used the
counterfeit credit card to make numerous purchases. "Some Rp 100
million was spent using the fake card," Widi said.

He denied the employees had tortured Deddy. "That was self-
defense, since he (Deddy) tried to hit me first."

Deddy said he was brought to City Military Headquarters in
Guntur, South Jakarta, at 4 p.m. on Tuesday before being released
by military police officers.

Rizal Zakaria, a staffer with BCA's public relations
department, said the bank was investigating the matter. (asa)