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)