Detective chief interrogated for releasing BNI suspect

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chief of Jakarta Police Special Crimes unit Sr. Comr. Syahrul Mamma was questioned over the weekend by National Police internal affairs for releasing a suspect in a Rp 6 billion (US$631,570) graft case at the bank BNI Kota branch in West Jakarta.

National police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko Ardan said on Sunday that Syharul was questioned by internal affairs for several hours.

"Yes, internal affairs has questioned him as to why the city police released a suspect in a bank graft case," he told The Jakarta Post.

Police arrested earlier an employee of state bank BNI Kota branch in West Jakarta identified as Gita Yurnalisa, an official of the National Land Agency (BPN) identified as GA, a businessman identified as Masduki, and a notary public identified as Karat Ernawati.

They were all accused of cooperating to embezzle money from the BNI Kota branch.

Police accused them of making fake land documents to be used as collateral to get a loan from the branch several times between 2000 to 2001.

However, Karat Ernawati, was released last week without explanation.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman denied bribery allegations in the release, saying that Karat was not aware that the land documents she notarized were used for graft.

"My officers have done the right thing. We can't detain her because she was unaware that the documents were used for criminal activities," he said.

Firman said Karat would not flee as police continued to monitor her.

A reliable source at city police headquarters, however, said that Karat was released because a member of the House of Representatives appealed to the city police chief.

"He was a close friend of Karat. He came to see the city police chief several days before the release," he told the Post.

Meanwhile, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that police were still gathering more evidence to complete suspects' case files.

"We need more evidence to be able to complete the case files. We will submit them to prosecutors in several days," he told the Post.

Tjiptono said that the suspects were charged under Articles 2 and 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption, Article 49 of Law No. 10/1998 on banking, and Article 55 and 56 of the Criminal Code. They face a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.