Case on Hindoro stays open despite his recent death

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives are set to continue investigating a Rp 900 billion bank scam despite the recent death of the main suspect Hindoro Halim, an official said yesterday.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang told the media that detectives were currently preparing dossiers of Hindoro's alleged involvement in illegal commercial paper transactions in an effort to net other suspects.

"We have other suspects connected to the bank scam case, especially related to the selling of commercial papers worth billions of rupiah.

"Aditya Halim, Hindoro's brother, was apparently involved in the case and has been listed on the police wanted list.

"We still have several leads to solve the case and have found evidence which supported the indictment of other suspects involved in this matter," Aritonang explained.

So far, police have questioned 20 witnesses in connection with last year's scam at Bank Perniagaan.

Hindoro, a former commissioner of Bank Perniagaan is said to have fallen to his death from the eighth floor of Hotel Marbela in Anyer, West Java, on Monday last week.

Hindoro's body was reportedly scheduled to be buried by his family today at Gunung Sindur Cemetery in Bogor, as stated in an announcement in Kompas daily on Tuesday.

His funeral had been postponed several times without explanation, while the police declared his death a pure accident last week.

Meanwhile, city police detectives yesterday started to probe another bank scam case, involving hundreds of billions of rupiah, allegedly involving a director of a private firm producing steel items.

Deputy chief of the city police detective unit, Lt. Col. Bakat Purwanto, refused to give details other than to identify the suspect as TBH, 56, and his firm as CV WMI.

"This case is related to the misappropriation of letters of credit (L/C) acquired from several private banks, including Bank Prima Express," Bakat said.

"But please wait for further details as our investigation has yet to be fully completed," he told the media. (edt)