Police question Bambang over cam allegations
JAKARTA (JP): Police questioned former president Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo as a suspect on Friday over allegations of a scam at his liquidated Bank Andromeda.
Bambang, owner of the widely diversified Bimantara Group, kept his mouth closed as he made his way through the sea of reporters waiting outside the National Police headquarters.
But Antara quoted him as saying that he was questioned as a witness.
Bambang's two lawyers, O.C. Kaligis and Juan Felix Tampubolon, who accompanied him during the four-hour interrogation, also said nothing.
Before the questioning of Bambang, which started at 3:45 p.m., the head of the National Police detective corps, Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, told the media that Bambang was to be questioned as a suspect in the alleged bank scam.
"As one of Bank Andromeda's commissioners, he's named as a suspect in the case but we'll see about it (his status) later in the investigation," said Da'i, giving no details of the accusations or whether Bambang would be arrested.
He only said that Friday's questioning of Bambang was the first such interrogation.
Bambang's appearance at the headquarters on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta led the National Police to noticeably tighten their security.
At least 40 plainclothes officers were deployed to form a human barricade to protect him at the entrance hall of the Detective Corps office.
Dozens of press photographers and reporters, who had convened at the headquarters hours before Bambang arrived, were blockaded by the officers from getting either proper pictures or comments from the flamboyant businessman.
According to the available data, Bambang is the first relative of Soeharto to have been labeled a suspect. His father, who ruled the country for 32 years, resigned on May 21 after massive anti- Soeharto rallies and riots nationwide.
Bambang, who was scheduled to arrive at 2 p.m., finally showed up at 3:45 p.m. in a shiny black Nissan patrol.
After waiting impatiently for almost four hours, the media swamped Bambang with questions when he was escorted by police officers out of the detective office.
To the reporters' chagrin, Bambang refused to say a single word but kept on walking in the midst of the heavy crowd of officers and reporters.
He only posed for two minutes for the photographers.
None of the police officers, including the head of the economic crimes unit Col. I Made Mangku Pastika and his supervisor Maj. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, were willing to comment on the questioning or when Bambang would be questioned again.
Bambang was first summoned by the police on Sept. 16, but the questioning was adjourned because the officers were busy investigating other suspected banking criminals.
Bambang's bank, Andromeda, is one of 21 banks that has been referred to the police by the central bank, Bank Indonesia, regarding the possible violation of banking laws.
The bank was one of 16 banks closed down by the government last November because of allegations that they had violated the rules limiting lending to their own business groups.
The police's investigation into these liquidated banks is mostly grounded on suspicions that they breached the legal lending limit and failed to report this to the authorities, thereby violating the 1992 Banking Law.
If found guilty, the suspects face a maximum sentence of six years imprisonment and a Rp 6 billion (US$550,000) fine.
Bambang sat on Bank Andromeda's commissioners board along with noted businessmen Henri Pribadi, Prajogo Pangestu, Peter F. Gontha, Jusran and Junanta P. Syarfuan.
Police have so far completed their investigations into two banks, Bank Dwipa Semesta and Bank Citrahasta Dhanamanunggal. The dossiers have been handed over to the State Prosecutor's Office. (emf)