Police still in dark over HongkongBank scam
Police still in dark over HongkongBank scam
JAKARTA (JP): The city police are still in the dark over the negligence of the staff of HongkongBank's branch office here in checking the fake money transfer orders which have caused losses of about Rp 79 billion (US$34.35 million).
"Moreover, the overseas banks which sent the orders have only a small amount of money at HongkongBank here, compared to the huge amount that was to be transferred to a third party," Lt. Col. Aryanto Sutadi, head of the economic crime section, told reporters here yesterday.
"I don't want to blame anybody or any party in this case, but the question is how could the bank's staff have failed to make any reconfirmation to the overseas banks, which were identified as the senders of the orders," detective Aryanto said.
Under police questioning, a staff member of the bank said that he found a fake order sent from the Bassel-based Union Bank of Switzerland on Dec. 19, 1995, to HongkongBank in Jakarta.
Unfortunately, the staff member didn't report the finding to his superiors, Aryanto said.
"As far as I know, none of the staff have been fired, but we'll question them again soon after the main suspect is in our hands," said the senior officer.
As of yesterday, only one man, identified as Hans Wowor, a local businessman, had been arrested.
The key suspect, identified as Philippine passport-holder Henry O. Vendijo, 55, is still at large along with two other suspects, identified as Tan Tek Hin, believed to be a Singaporean, and Atik Cornelius, a local businessman.
"We have asked all exit gate authorities nationwide to ban them from leaving the country," Aryanto said.
Based on preliminary investigations and a report made by HongkongBank, the fake money orders asked initially for the transfer of Rp 165 billion. They were sent via telexes under the names of three prominent banks in Switzerland and Germany with orders from a corporation called Agro Impact in Italy. (see box)
The telexes, which included suitable secret codes, were sent on three different dates with different values, asking the HongkongBank branch office here to transfer cash to two local firms via private banks.
The local firms are PT Aurora, a contractor for airport facilities, and PT Atrico, an agribusiness company.
The first telexes, dated Dec. 19, 1995, came from the Dresden Bank and the Union Bank of Switzerland.
Due to significant irregularities, a HongkongBank staff member rejected the Union Bank's order. The other order was passed through to the Modern Bank two days later without further confirmation to the Bremen bank.
HongkongBank received further orders from the Dresden Bank and Swiss Bank Corporation on Dec. 28, 1995. On the next day, HongkongBank also received another order from the Swiss Bank Corporation.
However, the last three telexes were only processed on Jan. 2, 1996, due to the New Year holiday. The order from the Dresden Bank was canceled because it had not transferred its first order, worth Rp 60 billion.
However, HongkongBank honored the fake orders from the Swiss Bank to Modern Bank and Unibank.
"They knew of the fraud only after Unibank, which refused to hand over the cash to the suspects, discovered irregularities in the fake orders," Aryanto said. (bsr)