Police detain suspects in Rp 100 billion fraud case
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have detained two suspects in a Rp 100 billion (US$9.6 million) fraud case involving state oil company Pertamina and imposed travel bans on both of them.
"My detectives arrested one man on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday... the third is still at large, probably overseas. We are on the lookout for him," National Police chief of fraud Brig. Gen. Bakat Purwanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
National Police have already confiscated evidence, including a yacht, luxury houses in Bali, luxury cars, two houses in Permata Hijau and a house in Pondok Indah in South Jakarta, all belonging to the suspects.
The detained suspects are the head of Pertamina's treasury, Lukman Hakim, who was detained on Wednesday, and Pertamina's head of foreign exchange, Syaiful D. Ismail, who was detained on Tuesday.
A third suspect remains at large. She has been identified as Hardini Sugito and is the owner of three foreign exchange companies, PT Logtrans, PT Dumas Valindo and PT Sentra Arus Valindo.
The fraud took place on June 23, 2001, but Pertamina reported the case months later, on Oct. 5 last year.
Bakat said that police were investigating Lukman and Syaiful according to the 1971 Anticorruption Law and Article 374 of the Indonesian Criminal Code on embezzlement.
The 1971 law carries a maximum punishment of a life sentence. Article 374 of the Criminal Code carries a maximum punishment of a five-year prison term.
The fraud took place when three foreign exchange companies were supposed to provide foreign exchange to a private bank.
Pertamina found a $10 million discrepancy in June 2001, which was not accounted for during the three companies' contract with Pertamina.
Bakat said police needed to detain Lukman and Syaiful for further questioning on the alleged fraud, even though the police already have witness testimonies and enough evidence to charge the suspects.
"We need to grill the suspects, because it is possible the suspects had other accomplices... this is not a small case and they must have needed the help of others," Bakat said.
"The embezzled amount, therefore, could be much larger than $10 million. We cannot know for sure unless we interrogate the suspects," Bakat said.
The three companies had been partners with Pertamina since January 2001, but six months later Pertamina decided not to use them and instead asked a private bank to provide foreign exchange. But suspected collusion between the three suspects meant the foreign exchange was placed into a bank account that allegedly belonged to Hardini.
Meanwhile, detectives from National Police are still waiting for the Supreme Court to issue a decree to allow them to seize the shares of a travel bureau owned by Hardini Sugito, so as to make up for state losses caused by the fraud.
According to existing regulations, the National Police do not have the authority to seize any company's shares. - JP