Police submit BNI case dossier to prosecutors
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police submitted the case files on five suspects in the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) scandal to the Jakarta prosecutor's office on Monday, with their trial now expected to start soon.
Olla Abdullah Agam, Adrian Pandelaki Lumowa, Richard Kountul, Aprilia Widharta and Titik Pristiwanti will make up the second group of suspects to stand trial for their involvement in the Rp 1.7 trillion scam.
They are directors of the Gramarindo group of companies, which is alleged to have fraudulently received billions of BNI money.
"The (four) male suspects have been moved to Cipinang prison, while the female suspect (Titik Pristiwanti) will be returned to police headquarters as the Pondok Bambu women's penitentiary is full. Besides, the police still need information from her regarding the role of other suspects," Marwan Effendy of the Jakarta prosecutor's office said.
Police handed over the case files on two other suspects, Edy Santoso and Kusadiwiyono, to the South Jakarta District Court on Feb. 5 .
Their trials, said Marwan, were expected to begin next week.
Edy is the former BNI customer service division head for foreign banks at the Kebayoran Baru branch, while Kusadiwiyono was the manager of the branch.
After receiving the case files, the South Jakarta prosecutor's office will prepare to bring the cases before the South Jakarta District Court.
"Hopefully, they can go to trial by the end of this month or early next month," he said.
Normally, it takes a district court two weeks to start a trial from the date on which the case files have been finalized.
The five suspects are being charged under Law No.20/2001 on corruption, and/or Law No. 25/2003 on money laundering.
The BNI scandal surfaced late last year when BNI's Kebayoran branch in South Jakarta granted fictitious export credits to eight Gramarindo group subsidiaries with L/Cs issued by foreign banks as collateral. Police suspect the loans were channeled directly to the companies as no goods were exported and the bills of lading attached to the L/Cs were fake.
Marwan said the prosecutor's office had obtained evidence, including US$238,000 in cash from Edy Santoso, as well as various documents and asset titles. He did not elaborate.
However, the prime suspect in the scandal, Maria Pauline Lumowa, is still at large and out of reach in Singapore. Many alleged corruptors are suspected to be hiding in that country as Indonesia has no extradition treaty with Singapore.
Speaking on behalf of his fellow suspects, Adrian Lumowa suggested that the prosecutor's office handle the case objectively. He also said that he had not had any contact with Maria because he had been in police detention since Nov. 6, 2003.
Police are also studying the files on other suspects, such as Nirwan Ali, Jeffry Baso, Yudi Basso, and Andrean Waworuntu.