Police question another BI director

Police question another BI director

JAKARTA (JP): A former Bank Indonesia director,
Hendrobudiyanto, cut short medical treatment in Japan to attended
Jakarta Police Headquarters last night and answer a summons
regarding his alleged role in a bank scam.

Hendrobudiyanto's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin told The Jakarta Post
that his client, who should have spent an additional three days
in Tokyo, returned early as an act of goodwill.

"As a good citizen, my client decided to comply with the
police summons," Amir said yesterday.

As of late last night, the questioning of Hendrobudiyanto was
continuing and a large number of print and broadcast reporters
had gathered outside the detective unit's office.

City police had summoned Hendrobudiyanto and three other
former central bank directors several hours after they were
dismissed from their positions Tuesday.

Hendrobudiyanto was BI's director for private foreign exchange
bank supervision, while the other three directors have been
identified by police as: Paul Soetopo Tjokoronegoro, director of
market operations; Heru Soepraptomo, director of legal affairs;
and Mansjurdin Nurdin, director for the supervision of private
non-foreign exchange banks.

When asked to attend police headquarters for questioning
Tuesday, only Paul and Heru immediately complied, a senior
officer, who did not want to be identified, said.

Police were unable to locate Hendrobudiyanto on that day as he
was scheduled to fly to Tokyo at 11 p.m. for medical treatment,
the police source said.

Amir said he had sent a letter to city police saying that his
client could not meet the police summons because he had to
undergo medical treatment in Tokyo, he said.

The other director, Mansjurdin, is believed to be in
Melbourne, Australia, the source said without providing further
details.

The charges against the men remain unclear because police and
other related parties are remaining tight-lipped about the case.

But a police report states that the four were summoned for
questioning in relation to bank scams worth trillions of rupiah
at Bank Arta Prima, Bank Dwipa, Bank Asta, and Bank Perniagaan.

According to the police source, interrogators only questioned
the three about the bank's structure and organization and the
directors' authority.

"We could probably charge them after questioning is completed.

"It's just a preliminary probe," he said. "It's easy to arrest
these men but it's difficult to prove their sins."

Earlier, police arrested four former employees of the central
bank, identified as Johny Panjaitan, Conny Gumelar, Joko Priyanto
and Hari Cahyono for their alleged roles in the Bank Perniagaan
scam.

Amir, who is also representing Paul and Heru, denied yesterday
that the questioning of his three clients was based on reports
made by certain parties who disliked them.

Separately, city police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said the
investigation had not been completed and none of the four
directors had been charged with any crimes.

"Give us time to investigate the case. We will announce it
later," Hamami said.

He denied media reports that the police had arrested two of
the former central bank directors. (jun/cst)