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.