Ex-bankers at large, get life sentences for Rp1.51t graft

Ex-bankers at large, get life sentences for Rp1.51t graft

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While many corruptors have received light sentences, the
Central Jakarta District Court sentenced two former bankers to
life on Wednesday for graft involving Rp 1.51 trillion (US$164
million), and ordered them to return the misappropriated money to
the state.

Unfortunately, both defendants, Bambang Sutrisno and Adrian
Kiki Ariwan, respectively the deputy commissioner and president
director of the now-defunct Bank Surya, were being tried in
absentia.

Bambang is reportedly in Singapore, while Kiki's whereabouts
remain a mystery.

The verdict was the same as the prosecutors' had demanded last
week after the defendants were found guilty of misusing the Rp
1.51 trillion in emergency loans under the Bank Indonesia
Liquidity Support (BLBI) scheme in 1997.

The two channeled the BLBI funds to 166 companies belonging to
them, 69 of which turned out to be shell companies.

The bank, which was owned by Sudwikatmono, a relative of
former president Soeharto, was closed down in 1998.

Reading out the verdict, presiding Judge Rukmini asked the
prosecutors to carry out immediate execution by summoning the
defendants through the media.

"The defendants have to repay the state losses and each pay
fines of Rp 30 million or spend another six months in jail," she
told the court, which was packed by reporters.

Execution could be another matter entirely as admitted by
prosecutor Arnold Angkouw, who still has to consult his superiors
in the Attorney General's Office regarding means of bringing back
Bambang, who reportedly resides in Singapore and is in bad
health, to Indonesia.

He admitted that prosecutors still don't know Kiki's
whereabouts.

"We have ways," Angkouw said when reminded by reporters that
Indonesia has no extradition agreement with Singapore, a fact
which prosecutors said had blocked the investigation into
business magnate Sjamsul Nursalim, who is suspected of misusing
Rp 10.9 trillion in BLBI funds.

Earlier, the same court sentenced Hendra Rahardja of Bank BHS
to life, while his two accomplices received 20 years in jail each
for misusing Rp 2.7 trillion of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity
Credit (BKBI) and Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds.
Execution has yet to take place as Hendra is still on trial in
Australia for immigration offenses, while the whereabouts of the
other two defendants remains unknown.

Several other defendants in BLBI cases who physically turned
up for their trials, however, received light sentences, or were
even acquitted.

Earlier this year, David Nusa Wijaya of the now-defunct
Servitia Bank was sentenced by the West Jakarta District Court to
one year in jail as he promised to repay Rp 1.27 trillion to the
state. David, who has never been detained, escaped when
prosecutors tried to execute the verdict.

Last year, the government lost its first legal battle against
Hendrawan Haryono as the South Jakarta District Court acquitted
Hendrawan, the former deputy director of the now-defunct Bank
Aspac, of corruption. But he was sentenced to one year in jail
for violating the banking law and was ordered to pay Rp 500
million in compensation, despite the fact that the bank had
caused state losses amounting to Rp 583.4 billion due to BLBI
misuse.

In August this year, the Central Jakarta District Court also
acquitted the president of the now-defunct Modern Bank, Samadikun
Hartono, of graft involving Rp 1.69 trillion. Previously, the
prosecutors had lowered the stated losses to Rp 169 billion in
the indictment. But, when they made their sentencing demand, the
state losses were stated at only Rp 11.9 billion.

The central bank extended BLBI funds totaling Rp 144.5
trillion to 48 banks to help them cope with the economic crisis,
but 95 percent of the funds were misused.