Ex-Bank staff pleads guilty of graft

TANGERANG (JP): Defendant Rudi Budiman, a former head of the Tangerang branch office of a privately-owned bank, admitted to all the wrongdoings he had been accused of, which together caused the bank Rp 3.1 billion (US$352,270) in losses.

In the hearing of his case at the Tangerang Court on Tuesday, Rudi, 37, confessed that he had embezzled money from savings accounts, time deposits and promissory notes belonging to customers of PT Bank Prashida Utama from 1988 to 2000 by imitating the signatures of the customers at the bank's branch office on Jl. Merdeka.

The court also presented Lina Anggraini, a member of the bank's board of directors, who said that the bank initially found no irregularities and that an auditing team dispatched to examine the cash flow of the bank also found nothing suspicious.

She, however, admitted that the bank did not apply strict control measures over the flow of cash at that time.

Lina, who is also the sister-in-law of the defendant, disclosed that the branch office heads at the firm were only allowed to officially withdraw up to Rp 500 million in cash at the most.

To withdraw cash of more than Rp 500 million, the branch office heads were required to request approval from the bank's headquarters in Jakarta.

Prosecutor Mursidi accused Rudi of embezzling the funds from the savings accounts, time deposits and promissory notes of eight individuals and one firm.

"The stolen money was used by the defendant for, among other things, recreation, buying stocks and paying deposit rates," Mursidi said.

Outside the court, after the hearing, Rudi suddenly insisted that he did nothing wrong and had not stolen a single rupiah from the bank.

"If I had embezzled such a large amount of money, it'd be impossible for me to be here like this," he shouted.

The hearing was adjourned until next week. (41/bsr)