Panin Bank embezzler sought

Panin Bank embezzler sought

JAKARTA (JP): Police are searching for an employee of the
privately-owned Panin Bank who allegedly embezzled more than Rp 4
billion (US$1.81 million) in bank money last month, a bank
official said yesterday.

"We deny the press report yesterday saying that the amount
stolen was Rp 92.5 billion," Panin Bank spokesman Budi Purnomo
told reporters.

According to Budi Purnomo the incident took place at the
bank's Senayan branch in Central Jakarta.

"The lost money has been replaced by money taken from bank's
capital reserves," he said.

It was still unknown when the swindling began, but it was
disclosed after a regular internal audit was made in early
August. The incident involved one of the bank cashiers, Kho A
Kuan, who had been working for Panin for 20 years, Budi said.

"Kuan used the bank's cash and also wrote bad cheques several
times until we discovered that he had taken Rp 4.2 billion," Budi
said.

He added that Kuan, who is married to Singaporean woman, might
have escaped abroad. (01)