Govt gives up on corruptor's wealth

Govt gives up on corruptor's wealth

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Months of hunting for assets of the late Hendra Rahardja, former
Indonesian banker and business magnate convicted of corruption,
have ended in disappointment as virtually all of his wealth has
been sold, a Cabinet minister has said.

Quoting reports from the Australian government, Minister of
Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Saturday
that almost all of Hendra's assets in Australia had been sold
before the Australian government executed a verdict by an
Indonesian court in Hendra's graft case.

"There is still a small number of assets but their value is
far below our expectations. There have been allegations that his
assets were transferred to other countries," Yusril said.

Yusril did not reveal the value of Hendra's leftover assets in
Australia that had been acquired by the government.

The government, according to Yusril, was currently trying to
trace Hendra's assets outside Australia. However, he complained
about difficulties in tracing the assets.

"The attempt to extradite him took a very long time. People
can move their ill-gotten wealth quickly if they hear the
government is after it," Yusril said.

The government has been pursuing Hendra's assets in a bid to
pay his debts to the country since January last year, following
Hendra's death in Australia.

It had set up a liquidation team to sort out his assets after
the Australian government offered Jakarta some US$120 million of
Hendra's assets in that country.

Efforts to bring Hendra back to the country since March 2002
to serve his life imprisonment were part of the government's
attempt to prosecute corruptors implicated in Bank Indonesia
Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) fund violations.

However, the attempts failed due to complicated extradition
proceedings in Australia.

Hendra, who was arrested by the Australian government for an
immigration offense in 1999, subsequently died of kidney cancer
early in January 2003.

The tycoon, who fled the country in 1997, was sentenced to
life imprisonment in absentia for corruption involving Rp 1.95
trillion (US$216.7 million) of taxpayers' money distributed to
two of his banks under the BLBI program during the economic
crisis in the late 1990s.

Hendra, along with his son, was charged with corruption after
the collapse of his two banks, Bank Harapan Sentosa and Bank Guna
International, in 1997, even though the state had provided
emergency funds to bail out failing banks.

The whereabouts of Eko Edi Putranto, Hendra' son, are
currently unknown. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail following
an in absentia trial in the same case.

Hendra was one of several wealthy bankers who fled the country
to avoid prosecution after they refused to repay to the state
misused BLBI funds.

His brother Edi Tansil has remained at large since he fled
Cipinang prison in 1996 while he was in the second year of a 20-
year jail term after being convicted of corruption charges
amounting to Rp 1.3 trillion that nearly brought the state-owned
Bank Pembangunan Indonesia to bankruptcy.