House forms BNI, BRI special committee
House forms BNI, BRI special committee
Rendi A. Witular and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislators decided on Wednesday to form a special working
committee to ensure the seriousness of law enforcers in
investigating the high-profile lending fraud at state-owned Bank
Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).
The move came amid fears that law enforcers, such as the
police and the prosecutors, might be hesitant to solve the case
in view of reports of the possible involvement of well-connected
people and key politicians hungry for funds to finance electoral
campaigns.
"We need to form the committee to ensure that the police and
the prosecutors won't play around with the investigation of the
fraud cases," said Faisal Baasyir, the vice chairman of the House
of Representatives Commission IX for financial affairs.
The BNI investigation is currently being handled by the
National Police, while the BRI case is handled by the Attorney
General's Office.
The decision to form the committee was made at the end of a
hearing between the Commission and top management of BNI and BRI,
and officials from Bank Indonesia.
Faisal, who led the hearing, said the committee would also
investigate the fraud cases based on input from various
institutions and the public. The result of the investigation
would be delivered to the police, the prosecutors, the courts and
the public.
In that connection, the committee would have the authority to
summon and question any institution and people related with the
investigation or the fraud cases, he said.
Meanwhile, National Police director for economic crime Brig.
Gen. Samuel Ismoko said the police would question BNI president
Saifuddien Hasan on Thursday as a witness.
"We are expecting the presence of the BNI president director
on Thursday," he said.
Upon hearing the news that he would be summoned, Saifuddien
said that he was not surprised and would cooperate with the
police.
"It is part of my efforts to make the investigation easier.
But, I haven't received the summons yet," he said.
The police have also revealed that two more businessmen have
been arrested for their alleged involvement in the BNI fraud,
however, their names were still being kept from the public so as
not to hamper efforts to arrest other suspects in the case.
"We can't publish their names because we are after their
friends. It will scare them. We are afraid that they will run,"
said Ismoko.
To date, the police have detained 11 businessmen and three BNI
officials in the case.
However, the main suspect, Maria Pauline Lumowa, the owner of
Gramarindo Group, is still in Singapore.
"Actually, it is not that difficult for the police to locate
and arrest Maria. We have been working with Interpol and have
sent a red notice to the Singapore police. It is now up to them
to arrest Maria," said Ismoko.
He explained that the police would use a psychological
approach to net Maria to persuade her to surrender, including by
detaining two of her close family members.
The fraud at BNI centers involved the disbursement of some Rp
1.7 trillion in loans (US$200 million) to a number of bogus
exporters. The modus operandi of the Rp 294 billion lending scam
at BRI was also similar as the loan recipients used fake
collateral.