Former bank employee jailed for embezzling

Former bank employee jailed for embezzling

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court yesterday
sentenced Mahdi Hadiwirya, a former employee of state-owned Exim
Bank, to six years in jail for embezzling Rp 3.9 billion ($1.77
million).

Presiding judge Leo Hutagalung said in his verdict that Mahdi
was found guilty of embezzling Rp 3.9 billion in 1993 from the
bank's branches in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, and Kebon
Melati, Central Jakarta. Mahdi was an officer in the bank's
clearance department.

The judge also fined the defendant Rp 18 million and
confiscated a car and motorcycle from him.

"The defendant violated Article 1 and 28 of 1971 Anti
Corruption Law and Article 418 of the Criminal Code," Hutagalung
said.

The article rules that a person proven guilty of violating the
articles faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of Rp
30 million.

Prosecutor Maruli Siregar previously asked the judge to
sentence Mahdi to eight years in jail, fine him Rp 18 million and
confiscate his car and motorcycle.

Mahdi, according to the verdict, committed the crime in
cooperation with Iwan Setiawan, also a former officer of the Exim
Bank's clearance department, and Humala Hutabarat alias Opung, a
notorious bank swindler.

Hutabarat was shot to death by a police officer in September
last year for resisting arrest, while Iwan was sentenced to two
years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court.

The judge said that in October 1993 Mahdi met Iwan in his
office and took him to a discotheque in the Puncak resort area in
West Java to introduce him to Hutabarat.

Mahdi asked Iwan to give him a copy of the bank's August 1993
clearance reports to Bank Indonesia, the central bank. The copy
was later given to Hutabarat.

Hutabarat succeeded in using the copy to embezzle Exim Bank of
Rp 3.9 billion. It was not explained how Hutabarat actually
swindled the bank.

Hutabarat later gave Rp 50 million to Mahdi and Rp 30 million
to Iwan.

According to police, Hutabarat began his operation in 1981 at
the branch of state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia in Siantar, North
Sumatra, making off with Rp 845 million.

He stole Rp 445 million from the Medan branch of state-owned
Bank Pembangunan Daerah a year later. He swindled another Rp 1.4
billion from the same bank in 1984. (29)