IBRA blamed for slow bank crime handling

JAKARTA (JP): The National Police on Thursday faulted Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) for the slow progress in the handling of banking crimes.

The National Police's special crimes director Brig. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika said the police had received banking crime cases on 36 banks from the central bank, but had not sent all of them to court as some of them still lacked evidence.

He added that BI and IBRA had been slow responding to Police requests for witnesses and documents to complete the dossiers on the 36 banks.

"We are facing serious difficulties in getting documents and witnesses from BI. BI's banking supervisors and auditors of the concerned banks are delaying our investigation process," Made told reporters.

Made made the statement in response to Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution's allegation that the police were "sleeping" and not pursuing investigation of the banking crimes already filed by the central bank.

Anwar said on Wednesday: "We keep asking why cases on rotten banks that robbed state monies have not been pursued. We've never received a satisfactory explanation."

Made said Anwar must not be too quick in faulting the police as it was the central bank and IBRA which had slowed the investigation progress.

The police involved IBRA in the investigation against banking crimes because it handles the assets of the 36 banks -- mostly closed down banks.

Made said "the police were not sleeping" as they had already processed banking crimes dossiers committed by executives of 15 commercial banks.

Made reported that executives and owners of three banks -- Bank Dwipa, Bank Citra and Bank Umum Majapahit -- had been convicted by the court.

He said the Police had submitted dossiers on the executives of nine other banks to the court. The nine banks are Bank Harapan Santosa, Bank Pacific, Bank Kosagraha, Bank Astria, Bank Jakarta, Bank Andromeda, Bank Pinaesaan, Bank Anrico and Sejahtera Bank Umum.

In addition, Made said, the police were completing dossiers of three other banks. They are Bank Seab, Bank Mataram and Bank Industri.

Made acknowledged, however, that the police stopped investigations against executives of Bank Guna International, formerly owned by fugitive Hendra Rahardja, due to lack of evidence. (ylt)