Police need more information on bank scam case

Police need more information on bank scam case

JAKARTA (JP): A noted criminologist has urged all parties
concerned with the recent massive fraud at the HongkongBank's
branch office here to help police by providing the necessary
information.

"Due to a series of complicated banking rules and procedures,
it will be difficult for city police to solve the case without
the cooperation and goodwill of all related parties,"
criminologist Mulyana W. Kusumah told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The bank fraud is believed to have been committed through fake
money orders "sent" from overseas banks to local banks via the
HongkongBank branch office here.

The amount the bank was defrauded by was Rp 97 billion (US$42
million), of which Rp 18 billion has not been withdrawn and is
still being kept at the bank account of one of the suspects at a
Unibank branch office here.

City police say they are still in the dark about this case
because so far few parties have been willing to help them collect
evidence and information for their investigation.

"How can we solve the case without knowing the details of the
case and having concrete material evidence ?" asked head of the
Jakarta police's economic crime section, Lt. Col. Aryanto Sutadi.

Mulyana urged all related government institutions, executives
and personnel of the related banks, including the HongkongBank,
Modern Bank and Unibank, to cooperate with the police to solve
the case immediately.

"If this can be done, it would help clarify the roles of these
in the fraud case which," said Mulyana, a senior lecturer at the
school of criminology at the University of Indonesia.

Many analysts and police sources believe that there must be a
conspiracy behind the massive fraud which requires in-depth
professional investigations.

Speaking to the Post yesterday, officer Aryanto also wondered
why the Central Jakarta District Court and Unibank stopped the
police from confiscating the remaining Rp 18 billion as material
evidence.

"The bank managers only told us that the money has been seized
as a guarantee by the court," Aryanto said.

"They simply ignored an official letter from the ministry of
finance which gives us the authority to confiscate the money," he
complained.

According to the court, the funds can be withdrawn only after
the case has been settled.

So far, the city police only have copies of the fake orders
and withdrawal transactions as evidence, Aryanto said.

"We need as much evidence as possible to fulfill the required
standard procedures to arrest suspects and complete the
dossiers," he said.

As of yesterday, only Hans Wowor, a 46-year-old local
businessman, has been arrested by police.

The key suspect, identified as Philippine passport holder
Henry O. Vendijo, 55, is still at large, as are two other
suspects, identified as Tan Tek Hin, believed to be a
Singaporean, and Atik Cornelius, an Indonesian national.(bsr)