BRI fraud suspects surrender
BRI fraud suspects surrender
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Two of the leading suspects in the Rp 294 billion (US$34.5) Bank
Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) loan scandal surrendered to the Attorney
General's Office on Monday night.
However, Bank Indonesia, the central bank, is still dragging
its heels in providing assistance to investigators, including
providing the names of holders of frozen accounts.
Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rachman said Tuesday that Yudi
Kartolo and Hartono, owners of a company used to allegedly
channel money from BRI, were being held at Salemba prison in
Jakarta.
"With their arrests, we hope that we can quickly solve the
case without wasting much more time."
Kemas would not comment on results of the initial questioning,
stressing the process was still underway.
Also in custody are Jakarta's BRI Senen branch head Deden
Gumilar, Bogor's BRI Surya Kencana branch head Asep Tarwan and
Jakarta's Tanah Abang branch head Agus Riyanto.
The office has questioned 20 witnesses and frozen 29 accounts
into which the money was allegedly channeled. The combined
balance of the accounts is Rp 100 billion.
"We are still waiting for Bank Indonesia's approval to examine
the (29) accounts. We hope the approval will be granted as soon
as possible. We want to know the names of the account holders,"
Kemas said.
Both Yudi and Hartono are the owners of PT Delta Makmur
Experindo, the company that was allegedly used as a vehicle to
take money from the three BRI branches.
Yudi is reported to be an old hand in orchestrating banking
fraud, because of his alleged involvement in the Rp 1.1 trillion
Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) fraud in 2001.
The BRI case is the second major fraud cases reported in the
last three months, following the revelation of a Rp 1.7 trillion
lending scam at BNI in October.
Many are worried the scandals are just the beginning of a
series of banking fraud cases in Indonesia. President Megawati
Soekarnoputri urged law enforces on Monday to treat the cases
seriously.