Former bank staff on trial for swindling
Former bank staff on trial for swindling
JAKARTA (JP): Iwan Setiawan, 28, a former employee of state- owned Export-Import (Exim) Bank, was arraigned at Central Jakarta District Court yesterday for his alleged involvement in embezzling Rp 2.6 billion (US$ 1.1 million).
Prosecutor T.S. Limbong told presiding judge A. Gatam Taridi that Iwan, a former clearance department officer of the bank's branch in Kebon Melati area, collaborated with Humala Hutabarat, a notorious bank swindler and Mahdi Hadiwirya, a retired employee of the bank. Hutabarat was shot to death by a police officer in September last year for resisting arrest.
Prosecutor Limbong said in his written indictment, which was read by his colleague, prosecutor Suharto, that in October, 1993, Mahdi came to see Iwan in his office and then took him to a discotheque in the Puncak highland area, West Java, to introduce him to Hutabarat.
During the meeting, Mahdi asked Iwan to give him a copy of the bank's August, 1993, itemized clearance report sent to Bank Indonesia, the central bank. Mahdi then gave the copy to Hutabarat, who at the time was the country's most wanted bank swindler.
According to prosecutor Suharto, Iwan received Rp 30 million for handing over a copy of the bank's clearance report.
Suharto said that Hutabarat then succeeded in using the copy in a way to enable him to cheat the bank with a loss totaling Rp 2.6 billion.
The prosecutor did not explain to the judge how Hutabarat actually swindled the bank.
"The crime was done in a very complicated way, so I think it would be better if reporters wait until an expert witness testifies," Suharto said.
Humala Hutabarat, 54, was believed to have embezzled at least Rp 15.39 billion (US$7.04 million) in a series of well-planned credit transfer frauds at seven state banks in North Sumatra and Jakarta since 1981.
The amount was billed as the largest fraud of its type in Indonesia.
According to police data, Hutabarat started his illegal operation in 1981 at the branch office of state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia in Siantar, his hometown in North Sumatra, making off with Rp 845 million. A year later, he stole Rp 445 million from the Medan branch of state-owned Regional Development Bank (BPD) and was arrested.
He managed to escape, however, before being brought to trial.
In 1984, he committed fraud again in Medan, North Sumatra, when he swindled Rp 1.4 billion from BPD.
It was believed that he then moved to Jakarta.
Police records show that his first target in Jakarta was BPD in 1988, which reported a loss of Rp 1.7 billion caused by his fraudulent activities. Along with four other men, Hutabarat was arrested and jailed for one year.
Later, in 1992, Bank Dagang Negara Melawai, another state bank, in South Jakarta reported a loss in its clearing account totaling Rp 3.2 billion. This time, Hutabarat and his gang, including an employee of the bank, opened a falsified account and cleared funds through it. The group then transferred the money to Hutabarat's bank account at Tat Lee Bank in Singapore.
The latest data on Hutabarat's operation was reported by two Exim Bank branch offices here. The Kebon Melati office in Central Jakarta reported a loss of Rp 2.6 billion and Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta Rp 5.2 billion.
Shortly after Judge Taridi adjourned the trial, he ordered the prosecutor to bring a lawyer to represent Iwan because the Criminal Procedure Code rules that a person who is facing five years imprisonment should be represented by a lawyer.
Prosecutor Suharto said that Iwan had violated Article 1 and 28 of 1971 Anti Corruption Law and Article 418 of the Criminal Code. The article rules that a person faces 20 years imprisonment if he is proven guilty of violating it. (mas)