Nursalim's firms and bank not affected
Nursalim's firms and bank not affected
JAKARTA (JP): The abduction of business tycoon Sjamsul
Nursalim, the owner of Bank Dagang Negara Indonesia (BDNI) and
chairman of the Gadjah Tunggal business group, will not affect
the performance of his companies, an executive of the bank said
yesterday.
BDNI's head of public relations, Rudi Deswandy, said that the
money used to pay the ransom demanded by the alleged kidnappers
was not obtained from the bank's own accounts.
"The money used to pay the ransom was definitely not BDNI's
money, it was Nursalim's," he told a press conference.
Rudi said the suspects had demanded Nursalim's family pay a
ransom of S$7.5 million to be transferred to a bank in Singapore.
He said he did not know the name of the bank. He also refused
to say whether the ransom had been totally met.
"The motive behind the kidnapping was purely crime," was all
he would say.
"Let me repeat it again, the kidnapping had nothing to do with
Nursalim as the owner of BDNI, but was aimed at Nursalim
himself," Rudi said.
Rudi, however, refused to comment on whether the slight drop
in value of BDNI and Gadjah Tunggal shares in the market
yesterday was due to the media coverage of the arrest of
Nursalim's kidnappers.
"I can't answer that. I haven't checked the market," he said.
The police announced Thursday that they had arrested eight of
the nine men believed to have kidnapped Nursalim on Sept. 2 and
held him for three days.
According to Rudi, Nursalim was abducted when he was on his
way home to Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, after work. "The
incident took place around 7 p.m.," he said.
Rudi declined to say whether any of the suspects were
customers or shareholders of the bank.
"I think that question should be directed to the police, not
me. All I know is that the victim didn't know the kidnappers," he
said.
City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, who also attended
yesterday's conference, did not give much information.
"We're still investigating the case," he said. (cst)