Neloe grilled again over alleged scam at Bank Mandiri

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) questioned Bank Mandiri president ECW Neloe for the second day on Thursday over an alleged lending scandal involving the state-owned bank.

After undergoing about 12 hours of questioning on Wednesday, Neloe said he was responsible for bad loans to four companies, which according to prosecutors caused losses of more than Rp 1 trillion (US$104 million).

Neloe arrived at the AGO at around 9:50 a.m. on Thursday. On leaving the building at around 8 p.m., he admitted that he had signed several documents requesting loan facilities from the bank. He did not elaborate.

Also quizzed was Mandiri director of corporate banking M. Sholeh Tasripan and his staffer Fachrudin Yasin.

AGO Deputy General for Special Crimes Hendarman Supandji said Neloe was cooperative during the investigation and that he would be further interrogated on Friday.

"It's up to us. If prosecutors aren't satisfied with the information he (Neloe) has given to them, then they will continue the questioning the next day," he said.

Earlier, the AGO had also summoned Bank Mandiri vice president I Wayan Pugeg, director of consumer banking Omar S. Anwar, and director of finance and strategy K. Keat Lee. However, none of them had yet been declared suspects.

Hendarman said his office may declare new suspects next week after evaluating and analyzing all evidence uncovered during investigations to date.

"We need to evaluate all evidence we have, including information from witnesses and suspects, before moving ahead with naming other suspects," he said.

So far, only four people have been declared suspects. They include top officials from two companies -- PT Siak Zamrud Pusaka (SZP) and PT Citra Graha Nusantara/Tahta Medan (CGN/TM), both of which are currently under intensive investigation.

The suspects included businessman Nader Taher, a candidate for Riau Islands governor, and the president director of PT Siak Zamrud who obtained a US$4.7 million loan from Bank Mandiri, according to prosecutors.

But PT Zamrud recently denied it was in debt to the country's largest bank, arguing that Nader had sold the company to a new owner before applying for the loan.

The two other companies being investigated are private TV broadcaster PT Lativi Media Karya (LMK) and PT Artha Bhama Texindo/Artha Tri Mustika Texindo (ABM/ATM).

The two firms, along with PT Siak Zamrud and PT CNG/TM, were among 22 companies being audited by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) for possible bad debts from Bank Mandiri.

Data from prosecutors shows that PT Siak Zamrud obtained a total of $4.7 million in loans from Bank Mandiri, while PT CGN/TM received Rp 165 billion and Lativi approximately Rp 361 billion.

Prosecutors have claimed that they found procedural irregularities by Bank Mandiri in extending the loans, and discovered misuse of the funds.

Hendarman went on to say that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had personally asked the AGO to continue with the investigations into the lending scandal.

"We have found that the bank itself does not have any problem at all. The problem lies in certain persons working in the bank," Hendarman said.