Marimutu named suspect in loan scam

Marimutu named suspect in loan scam

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Businessman Marimutu Sinivasan has been declared a suspect by the
National Police in an alleged fraud case involving a bad loan of
Rp 20 billion (US$2.1 million) from Bank Muamalat.

However, the co-founder of PT Texmaco failed to appear for
questioning on Wednesday at National Police Headquarters, with
his lawyer claiming that he was ill.

"Marimutu was scheduled to be questioned as a suspect in the
fraud case but since he did not show up today, his investigation
will be rescheduled for next week," National Police Spokesman Sr.
Comr. Saud Usman Nasution said.

He said that Marimutu, as president director of PT MultiKarsa
Utama, had applied for a Rp 50 billion loan from now-merged Bank
Duta in May 1997.

Since Bank Duta could only lend Rp 30 billion, it later asked
Bank Muamalat to cover the rest of the loan.

"Bank Duta was later taken over by the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and so was the loan, but it was a
different case at Bank Muamalat since it did not get its Rp 20
billion back," Saud said.

He said the probe into the alleged graft followed a report
last July by representatives from the Bank Muamalat board of
directors to the National Police.

"Police investigators have questioned six witnesses from Bank
Duta and Bank Muamalat, but we only have one suspect so far,"
Saud said.

However, he could not elaborate further on the case as to
whether the loan was used to finance one of Marimutu's companies
or the debtor used the money for himself.

Bank Duta was one of eight private banks that merged with Bank
Danamon as a part of the government-sponsored bank
recapitalization program in 2000.

Its former president director Dicky Iskandardinata was also
declared a suspect by the police in another graft case involving
Rp 1.7 trillion in non-performing loan from state-owned Bank
Negara Indonesia (BNI), in which businessman Adrian Waworuntu had
been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Bank Muamalat is an Islamic bank which received an award last
year as one of the best banks operating sharia banking in
Indonesia.