Man jailed for 20 years for BNI fraud
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Businessman John Hamenda, a defendant in the Rp 1.7 trillion (US$186.81 million) Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) scandal, was sentenced TO 20 years and fined Rp 1 billion on Thursday.
However, the director of PT Petindo Perkasa, remains free pending appeal.
Presiding judge Ridwantoro told the South Jakarta District Court that John was proven guilty of using fake letters of credit and of falsifying other export documents to get funds from the state bank.
The verdict was the same as that demanded by prosecutor Cecep Sunarto, who charged John under Law No. 31/1999 on corruption and Law No. 215/2002 on money laundering.
John said after the hearing on Thursday that he would appeal the verdict.
"I feel that there's injustice here in this court and I will appeal. There was a lot of evidence that the court failed to reveal and the judges disclosed only the evidence that the prosecutor wanted," he said after the trial.
John was brought to court after being declared a suspect in a fraud case involving the disbursement of Rp 1.7 trillion from a BNI branch into Petindo and Gramarindo Group.
He is the eighth of 17 suspects that have been sentenced to jail. The others were Ollah Abdullah Agam, Aprilla Widata and Adrian Pandelaki, who were sentenced to 15 years in prison, Richard Kountul 10 years and Titik Pristiwati who got eight years. BNI's Kebayoran Baru branch head Koesadiyuwono received a 15-year sentence, while Edi Santoso, the branch's customer service head, was sentenced to life.
Prime suspect Dutch citizen Maria Pauline Lumowa remains at large, while key suspect Adrian Waworuntu is still awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) called on Thursday for an in absentia trial for Lumowa so the government could recoup the bulk of the money.
KPK chairman Taufiqurrahman Ruki said that by holding such a trial, the government could carry out an immediate move to seize all of Lumowa's assets, including the flow of funds on her behalf.
"It seems the efforts to get her back here are difficult as she is not an Indonesian citizen, but we could ask for an in absentia trial that will provide a legal base to seize her assets," Taufiqurrahman said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Lumowa, a Dutch citizen and a commissioner at Gramarindo, left the country before the investigation began last year and is reportedly living in Singapore.
The government is unable to bring her back into the country because Indonesia does not have an extradition treaty with Singapore.
Taufiqurrahman said that the KPK had set up a team to trace the flow of funds lost from the case as well as the recipients.
He said that the team consisted of six people, including those from Bank Indonesia and the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK).
"We are learning the distribution of the massive funds, some into domestic banks and some into accounts at overseas banks," he noted.
However, he refused to give further details of some of the preliminary findings because they needed to be completed before being made public.
PPATK chairman Yunus Husein previously said the BNI case was a major case that, if solved, might help Indonesia get off the list of non-cooperative countries of the international money- laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force.
The conviction of John followed a string of previous verdicts handed down to bankers and others that were implicated in cases of misusing state funds.
In July, two former branch managers of state bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, and two businessmen were sentenced to jail after being declared guilty in a $21 million scandal.
Also in the same month, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Yosef Tjahjadjaja to 11 years in prison in a Bank Mandiri loan scandal that involved Rp 120 billion of state funds.
Yosef joined eight other defendants in the case who had also been sentenced to jail earlier.