Police arrest second suspect in Lippo fraud case

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have arrested a second suspect in the latest banking fraud that centered on the issuance and selling of fake promissory notes from Lippo Bank.

Director of the National Police fraud squad Brig. Gen. Andi Chaerudin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the police had arrested Anastasia, a former branch manager of Lippo Bank in Kebumen, Central Java.

He said that Anastasia was accused of being an accomplice in the alleged crime.

"We arrested Anastasia yesterday in Jakarta," Andi said.

The move came after the police previously nabbed restaurant owner Herry Robert for allegedly distributing 30 counterfeit promissory notes worth Rp 50 billion (US$5.5 million) to Lippo Bank customers.

According to the police, Herry committed the crime as a condition for getting his loan application for Rp 30 billion approved from Lippo Bank's Kebumen branch.

Herry chose the bank because he was close to Anastasia, who was the bank's former branch manager.

However, it was Anastasia who first reported the case to the police, saying that she did not realize that the notes that Herry was selling to the bank's customers were fake.

Andi said that so far the police had not arrested any other bank officials and that they were still investigating the case.

"We shouldn't rush into investigating this case," Andi said repeatedly.

Separately, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) arrested the deputy treasurer of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI), Zein Mansyur, on Thursday because of his refusal to cooperate in the investigation of the alleged misuse of Rp 268 billion and US$4 million of association funds during the years 1998-2002.

Zein had four times refused to attend investigation sessions. Finally, he was forcibly taken from his bed at the Pondok Indah Hospital and taken to the AGO building, AGO spokesman R.J. Soehandojo said.

Soehandojo said the accused was still clad in hospital pajamas and slippers when he arrived at the AGO building on Thursday afternoon.

"He was detained because he was uncooperative with investigators here. Besides, he was only pretending to be sick since his doctor had already allowed him to go home," he said.

Previously, the AGO arrested APHI's chairman Adiwarsita Adinegoro and deputy chairman Abdul Fattah for the same alleged crime.

Adiwarsita, a House of Representatives legislator from the powerful Golkar Party, allegedly misused the funds during his term as APHI chairman from 1998 to 2003.

Prosecutors accused him of ordering a transfer of Rp 10 billion to a man identified as Imam Kuntjoro, and of making a donation of Rp 11.125 billion to the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation. The expenditures were not in line with APHI's policy.

The Raudlatul Jannah Foundation was previously linked to a graft case that brought former House speaker and Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung to court last year. The foundation was appointed by Akbar to distribute staple foods to the poor in 1999, a social welfare program that was later proven to be fictitious.