Economist declared suspect in defamation case

Economist declared suspect in defamation case

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Well-known economist Dradjat Wibowo was questioned on Monday as a
suspect in a defamation case filed by Adrian Waworuntu, a former
main suspect in a Rp 1.7 trillion Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)
scandal.

Dradjat, who will be sworn in as a House of Representatives
(DPR) member on Oct. 11, complained, however, that police were
too quick to declare him a suspect without examining the content
of the news used as a basis by Adrian to file the complaint.

Adrian, who was released from police detention due to lack of
evidence to implicate him in the Rp 1.7 trillion scandal, had
reported Dradjat to the police for allegedly suggesting that he
also took money from BNI Magelang, Central Java branch.

"I never said that Adrian was involved in the scandal. The
report of Tempo daily in its Jan. 14 edition, which is being used
as a basis for the report, also did not quote me as saying so,"
said Dradjat.

The economist, who ran under the National Mandate Party (PAN)
in the April 5 legislative election, filed a counter lawsuit
against Adrian for alleged defamation and a false report.

Adrian reported Dradjat to police on Feb. 3 when he was still
in police detention for his alleged role in the BNI Kebayoran
Baru case. Police released him later after they failed to find
strong evidence to implicate him in the scandal.

Several businesspeople from the Gramarindo and Petindo Groups,
including Adrian, were accused of embezzling Rp 1.7 trillion from
the country's second-largest bank in 2003 by using letters of
credit from correspondent banks in Congo and Kenya to withdraw
money from BNI's Kebayoran Baru branch.

The letters of credit turned out to be fake, causing the state
bank to suffer losses of Rp 1.7 trillion. Police have named 17
suspects from BNI, Gramarindo and Petindo. Seven of them are
being tried in the South Jakarta court. However, the main
suspect, Maria Pauline Lumowa, managed to escape the country.

Dradjat also questioned the fact that Adrian could file a
report against him while he was in police detention.

"On February 3, Adrian was still in detention. How could he
file a report if he was in police custody? Why did the police pay
so much attention to such a report when they have many more
important things to do?" he wondered.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said police were
now examining the case to determine what they would do next.