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.