Names of suspects in bank frauds revealed

Names of suspects in bank frauds revealed

JAKARTA (JP): Police revealed yesterday the names of 24 senior
banking officials from seven of the 16 insolvent private banks
closed by the government last November for allegedly violating
the country's banking laws.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar Sianipar said the
suspects were either commissioners, presidents or directors of
their respective banks.

He named the banks as Sejahtera Bank Umum (SBU), Bank Harapan
Sentosa (BHS), South East Asia Bank (SEAB), Bank Pasific, Bank
Anrico, Bank Kosa Graha and Bank Pinaesaan.

He said five of the 24 suspects have been in detention at the
National Police Headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta
since last week.

Sixteen others who are still in the country have not yet been
taken into police custody, Togar said. The lawyers of some of the
suspects have issued written guarantees that their clients will
not try to flee the country, he added.

Three suspects are believed to have already escaped from the
country and have been placed on the police' most wanted criminals
list, he said.

The three absconders have been named as Lesmana Basuki, an SBU
commissioner, and Hendra Rahardja and Eko Edi Putranto, who were
respectively chief commissioner and president of BHS.

"Interpol have been informed about the three," Tagor said.

The five currently in police custody are Jhonny Basuki,
president of SBU; Hendro Suwono and Serni Kojongian, respectively
the marketing director and accounting director of BHS; and Anwar
Syukur and Achmad Rafli, the president and chief commissioner of
Bank Anrico.

The remaining 16 suspects were identified as Andre Widijanto
of BHS; Handi Sunardjo, Jimmy Sutjiawan and Leo Adianto of SEAB;
Endang Utari Mokodompit, Adrian Herling, Ferdinand Japutra and
Handoko Sutopo of Bank Pasific; Setiawan Chandra, John Erizal and
Eric C.J. Lazuardi from Bank Kosa Graha; Jhony Lumoa, H.R.
Rembet, C. Mandagi, Robby A. Manajang and Lodewik Yohanes Henri
Eman from Bank Pinaesaan.

The 24 suspects, along with five executives from two other
banks who were named as suspects last week, are accused of
breaching the legal lending limit and not reporting this fact to
accounting staff, in direct violation of Law No.7/1992 on
banking, Togar said.

If found guilty, the suspects could face a maximum sentence of
six years in jail and an Rp 6 billion fine.

Togar did not disclose the scale of the fraud allegedly
perpetrated by the suspects.

"The total losses will be revealed later by the central bank
(Bank Indonesia)," he said.

The five executives named last week were identified as Ahmad
Fedbi Fadhilla and Candra Wijaya, chief commissioner and
operational director of Bank Citrahasta Dhanamanunggal; and Bank
Dwipa Semesta executives Bambang Samijono and Wiyono Karya
Wagena, and Benny Ondang, who owns the latter bank.

Head of the National Police economic crimes unit, Col. Made
Mangku Pastika, told the media last Thursday that dossiers on the
five had been submitted to the prosecutor's office.

Made did not reveal the whereabouts of the suspects but
confirmed that Bambang Samijono had fled Jakarta.

The banking executives have all been named following an
intense police investigation of the 16 banks liquidated late last
year at the request of Bank Indonesia in an attempt to restore
confidence in the country's banking sector.

"We have probed nine banks an now intend to look into the
affairs of the remaining seven," Togar said.

The other seven banks are Bank Andromeda, Bank Jakarta, Bank
Industri, Astria Raya Bank, Bank Guna International, Bank Umum
Majapahit and Bank Mataram Dhanarta. (edt)