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"The lost money has been replaced by money taken from bank's capital reserves," he said.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