Dutch government help sought over Indover scam

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said his office would need to formally request that the Netherlands government assist it in investigating a corruption case involving a Bank Indonesia (BI) subsidiary in Amsterdam, NV Indover.

Marzuki said on Sunday that such a request was mandatory to obtain access to account numbers belonging to a number of businessmen who had received loans from Indover Bank between 1993 and 1998.

"During our visit there, we opened the way for cooperation with the Netherlands government in order to enable us to get to a number of accounts in Indover Bank as BI does not have the files.

"I don't know how come our central bank doesn't have access to Bank Indover...we have to make an official request to the counterpart to open the accounts," he told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on Sunday afternoon.

Marzuki has just returned from a trip to the Netherlands, in which his investigation team also investigated the legal possibilities for questioning 10 foreigners, who were once Indover Bank executives, as witnesses.

The state has reportedly suffered US$1 billion in losses due to the misuse of loans extended through Indover Bank and its Hong Kong affiliate Indover Asia Ltd.

Prosecutors named former president director of Indover Bank, Sidharta S.P. Suryadi and former managing director of Indover Asia Permadi Gandapraja as suspects. The two have already been banned from leaving Indonesia.

They have been accused of violating the bank's prudential principals by disbursing loans, which came from BI's foreign exchange reserves, without properly examining the borrowers' ability to repay.

Prosecutors also found intervention on the part of executives of BI, which at the time was chaired by governor Soedradjad Djiwandono.

Starting their investigation in August, the prosecutors unearthed an improper loan disbursement of $1.5 million to PT United Coconut Indonesia, a company belonging to the wife of former head of the Supreme Advisory Council A.A. Baramuli.

A source close to the investigation revealed that Baramuli also availed of loans which he then extended to several fictitious companies.

Marzuki refused to confirm the report, saying that his office "has as yet nothing to say about the findings in Amsterdam". (bby)