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)