General named BNI scam suspect

General named BNI scam suspect

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former fraud squad director at the National Police Brig. Gen.
Samuel Ismoko was declared a suspect on Friday for allegedly
abusing his power when investigating a bank scam causing some Rp
1.7 billion (US$170 million) in state losses.

The suspect was still being interrogated at 8 p.m. on Friday
at National Police Headquarters by an investigative team led by
Insp. Gen. Yusuf Manggabarani. The questioning started at around
10 a.m.

Last week, his subordinate Sr. Comr. Irman Santosa was
arrested on the same charge of power abuse in the investigation
into embezzled funds from the Kebayoran Baru branch of Bank
Negara Indonesia (BNI).

"During the previous questioning, Irman Santoso admitted he
had received orders from his boss, who at that time was Ismoko.
Therefore, there must be a link between them in the case. That's
why we're investigating him (Ismoko) intensively now," Yusuf
said.

Although he did not specify what was meant by "power abuse",
it is suspected that bribery is the nature of the charge.

"We arrested Irman first because he was holding a key position
in this case," Yusuf said.

Ismoko is accused of acting beyond his authority by giving the
bank fraud suspects, including businessman Adrian Waworuntu,
special treatment and taking bribes from them in the form of
notebook computers and cellular phones.

He had earlier faced a hearing by the police's disciplinary
committee, which barred him from involvement in investigating
cases for a year. However, no criminal charges were leveled
against him.

Ismoko was transferred from the operational division at
National Police Headquarters after being replaced as the fraud
squad director. Now, he is an advisor to the National Police
chief.

Yusuf, who also heads the police's internal affairs division,
said his team had found strong indications that Ismoko abused his
power when probing the BNI graft scandal based on testimonies by
22 witnesses, including Adrian Waworuntu who was in March
sentenced to life imprisonment in the same scam.

Another suspect in the BNI case, Rudi Sutopo, previously
admitted that Ismoko received an allowance amounting to Rp 180
million from Adrian when he traveled to Bangkok, Thailand, in
2003. The suspect also allegedly helped Adrian flee Indonesia.

Three other police officers, former fraud squad deputy chief
Sr. Comr. Bambang Premantoro and fellow investigators in the bank
scandal Sr. Comr. Mashudi and Adj. Sr. Comr. Wirosaleh -- who
also faced disciplinary hearings -- have not been questioned by
Yusuf's team.

However, Yusuf said he had promised National Police chief Gen.
Sutanto that he would soon complete the investigation into the
case after it was abandoned by former head of the internal
affairs division Insp. Gen. Supriyadi.

The police are still hunting down another key suspect, Maria
Pauline Lumowa, who remains at large.

The Dutch woman, who was born in Indonesia, was a commissioner
of PT Gramarindo, one of the companies that received the funds
from BNI Kebayoran Baru. She is currently residing in Singapore
but cannot be arrested by Indonesian police due to the absence of
an extradition agreement with the neighboring country.