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.