Police to question fugitive's lawyer and doctor
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After letting a key suspect in a multibillion dollar bank fraud case slip through their fingers, the police have summoned the fugitive's lawyer and doctor for a questioning regarding their client's escape.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said on Monday both the lawyer and doctor would be declared suspects if there was evidence they had harbored Gramarindo Group director Adrian Waworuntu or helped him evade arrest.
"Police investigators will determine their status," Paiman said.
Adrian is wanted for his role in a Rp 1.7 trillion (US$185 million) scandal involving state bank BNI 46.
Citing health concerns, Adrian asked the police for a seven- day stay for medical reasons on Sept. 23 through his lawyer, Doni Antares Irawan, who guaranteed his client would surrender himself to the police on Oct. 1.
Police approved the request, despite their knowledge that Sept. 23 was the deadline for them to transfer Adrian's case to the prosecutors.
A police source said the investigators gave their approval because they had no idea about his whereabouts and hoped he would keep his promise.
The police, however, had earlier said they knew Adrian was in his hometown of Kotamobagu in Bolaang Mongandow, North Sulawesi, and said they would pick him up as soon as possible.
When the police searched for Adrian in Kotamobagu on Sept. 30, they returned empty handed. The police declared him a fugitive a day later.
The police say they now believe Adrian had never been in Kotamobagu during the past two weeks, and they have became suspicious a letter from his doctor, F. Winerungan, that states he was sick, was faked.
National Police director for special crimes Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko has said police had informally talked to Winerungan and Doni about their client's whereabouts.
Paiman said police would interrogate Winerungan and Doni further as a part of the legal process.
Police believed Adrian had not fled Indonesia as the Immigration Office had no record of his departure overseas. The travel ban imposed on Adrian remained effective, Paiman said.
Another main suspect, Maria Pauline Lumowa, the owner of Gramarindo Group, the company that received the BNI money, has escaped arrest by fleeing to Singapore.
She is now reportedly staying in the Netherlands. Maria has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the affair.
In many fraud or graft cases suspects have left the country with the consent of law enforcers or because of their failure to impose travel bans.
Several businesspeople from the Gramarindo and Petindo groups were accused of swindling the second-largest bank in the country from 2002 to 2003. They allegedly obtained loans by using fake letters of credit from banks in Congo and Kenya to withdraw money from BNI's Kebayoran Baru branch.
Out of 16 suspects in the case, seven of them, including Koesadiyuwono and Edi Santoso from the BNI Kebayoran Baru branch, have been convicted.
Koesadiyuwono received a 15-year jail term, Edi got life imprisonment, while five of Gramarindo's directors have been jailed for between eight and 15 years.