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.