Key suspect in

Key suspect in
BNI scam spills
a few beans

Abdul Khalik
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

One of the prime suspects in the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)
scandal, one Edi Santoso, admitted in a letter released to
reporters on Tuesday that Adrian Waworuntu and Maria Pauline
Lumowa, two other key suspects in the scandal, promised him the
position of BNI director as an incentive for him to execute the
false letters of credit disbursement process.

Edi, former foreign customer service head of BNI Kebayoran
Baru branch in South Jakarta, said in the letter that Adrian and
Maria, both still at large, said repeatedly that they were close
to many high-ranking government officials, including President
Megawati Soekarnoputri and her husband Taufik Kiemas, all of whom
would be able to smooth the way for any decision to appoint a BNI
director.

Based on that account, Edi believed that Maria and Adrian had
the necessary credibility, and he was enticed "directly or
indirectly to handle their (false) export transactions" through
BNI financing.

Furthermore, he also believed that they had the capability to
give him excellent referrals to become a BNI director.

Maria's Gramarindo group was one of the most active firms
apparently involved in the scandal. It centers around 41 bogus
letters of credit worth Rp 1.7 trillion, which BNI disbursed to a
group of local firms, which were supposed to be used to export
commodities to a handful of African countries.

The police are holding at least 10 suspects in custody so far,
eight from the companies involved and two from BNI, including
Edi. The National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said earlier
that police would investigate the case seriously because the case
had been very detrimental for the country and could have and even
wider political dimension.

National Police Detective chief Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng
confirmed that police would interrogate all individuals related
to the scandal.

Edi's letter, which was submitted to reporters by his lawyer,
Herman Karim, also mentioned that Edi met with Gen. (ret)
Wiranto, one of the leading presidential candidates from the
Golkar party, twice in the period that the transactions had taken
place. The first meeting was held in March at Wiranto's office on
Jl. Talang Betutu, Central Jakarta. Edi said the first meeting
was for "a normal introduction".

Wiranto however was shown on SCTV on Tuesday denying the
suggestions, telling reporters that he had "never known" Edi.

In April, Edi was invited by Maria and Adrian to a house in
Kemang, South Jakarta. There, he met with those two as well as
Wiranto, some chairpersons from small political parties and other
businessmen. They talked about Wiranto's plan to run for
president in 2004.

According to the letter, at that meeting, Wiranto reportedly
said that he was ready to become president but had no funds for
the campaign. Maria and Adrian replied that they were ready to
raise funds to support his candidacy.

The letter, however, did not mention whether Wiranto ever
received funds from them, let alone the bogus money from BNI.

Rumors in other local media have been rife that perhaps as
many as three of Golkar's seven presidential hopefuls had
received money from individuals implicated in the scandal.

Wiranto has denied receiving money from any of the suspects.
Another candidate, Akbar Tandjung, the chairman of Golkar party,
made a similar denial.

Jusuf Kalla, the coordinating minister of people's welfare and
also another leading Golkar candidate, said previously that PT
Bukaka Jasa Utama had signed a business agreement worth Rp 4.5
billion with one of the people suspected to be involved in the
scam but denied ownership in the company which he claimed was
being controlled by Gorontalo Governor Fadel Muhamad. Fadel is
one of Golkar's treasurers.