Police silent on Saefuddien's probe
Police silent on Saefuddien's probe
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police disclosed on Thursday the identity of two more suspects in
the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) scam but remained silent about
the findings obtained from the questioning of the bank's
president director.
The questioning of BNI president director Saifuddien Hassan,
the first for the bank's top executive, lasted four hours, which
according to National Police Economic Crimes Division director
Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko was needed to explain the authorization
for the disbursement of letters of credit (L/C).
Similarly, Saifuddien opted to keep mum, saying he was not
allowed to make any statement related to his questioning.
Saifuddien made no comment as he rushed his car, despite the
barrage of questions from journalists who had been waiting for
him.
State Minister of State-owned Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi
has said Saifuddien would be replaced after the bank's
extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Dec. 15.
Earlier, the National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Erwin
Mappaseng said the police would question Saifuddien about every
aspect of the case in order to understand BNI's mechanisms and
officials' involvement.
"We will question him regarding each aspect of the internal
control system and his role in the system, including why the BNI
management was so late in reporting to the police, and his
meeting with Maria Pauline Lumowa," said Erwin.
Maria, a Dutch citizen who is still at large in Singapore, is
the main suspect in the case. The police said they had tried
every possible means to detain Maria, who admitted to having
received US$40 million from the scandal.
Indonesia has no extradition treaty with Singapore, but has
asked for Interpol's help to arrest Maria.
The BNI scandal centers on the improper disbursement of Rp 1.7
trillion ($200 million) in export loans to a number of local
companies, including Maria's Gramarindo Group.
The fraud in the second largest Indonesian bank in terms of
assets, highlights the failure of the bank to conduct a proper
credit appraisal before allowing its Kebayoran Baru branch to
disburse export loans to several companies who claimed to be
exporting commodities to the Congo and Kenya.
Erwin revealed that four more suspects had been added to the
police list, including the owner of Petindo Group John Hamenda
and the owner of Steady Safe Group Yoppy Wijaya.
Petindo Group is alleged to have received Rp 105 billion from
the scandal.
Steady Safe Group is a transportation conglomerate whose
subsidiaries consist of bus and taxi companies. John has been in
police custody since yesterday, while Yoppy will soon follow,
Erwin said.
Erwin declined to identify two other suspects, saying that he
would check the names with his men.
"This is the result of our examination of 156 accounts into
which the stolen money has been channeled. Several more suspects
will be announced later based on the accounts," said Erwin.
He said the police had confiscated several assets of the
Gramarindo subsidiaries.
"We have seized the group's assets including office premises
inside the Imperium Building in South Jakarta, several factories
in East Nusa Tenggara and some cash. We have also frozen 156
accounts but have not yet been able to determine the amount of
the money," said Erwin.
Meanwhile, Edi Santoso, another BNI suspect, withdrew his
statement about his relationship with former Indonesian Military
chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto.
"Edi has withdrawn his statement. Wiranto is not implicated in
the case. He regrets mentioning Wiranto's name in his letter,"
Edi's lawyer Herman Kadir told a media conference.
Wiranto's lawyer, Juanda, said following Edy's apology,
Wiranto, who is one of Golkar Party's presidential candidates,
would drop his complaint filed with the police against Edi and
Herman.