Red notice for Global fugitives issued
Red notice for Global fugitives issued
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The International Police (Interpol) has issued a red notice to
help the Indonesian police capture two executives of the troubled
Bank Global for their alleged role in a scam that led to the
bank's suspension.
"We have heard from Interpol that they have issued a red
notice for Irawan Salim and Rico Santoso," National Police chief
of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Sudjono said on
Wednesday.
He was referring to the bank's president director and
operational director respectively.
The Indonesian police sought help from Singapore Police and
the Lyon, France-based Interpol after learning that both Irawan
and Rico disappeared just after Bank Indonesia froze the
operations of Bank Global on Dec. 11. The two have been named
fugitives since then.
Police have detained 11 other executives of the private bank,
which was suspended after its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) had
dropped from 44.8 percent to minus 39 percent. The CAR measures
the financial health of a bank, and Bank Indonesia requires banks
in Indonesia to have a minimum CAR of 8 percent.
Irawan and Rico are charged with trying to cover up their
misdeeds by attempting to destroy bank documents since the bank's
financial health deteriorated sharply over the last couple of
months due to fictitious lending activities and bank fraud.
The whereabouts of the two fugitives remains unknown.
According to the police, Irawan had booked a flight to
Singapore on Dec. 11, the day before the police arrested the
other bank executives.
However, Irawan's lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon said his client
left for the United States to seek new investors for his bank.
The lawyer strongly denied that his client was evading arrest.
There are rumors in circulation that Irawan had crossed the
U.S. border to Toronto, Canada, but Suyitno said the fugitive
could be anywhere once he managed to flee Indonesia.
The country has no extradition treaty with the U.S. or
Singapore.
As for Rico, Suyitno said his investigative team had not found
any proof that Rico had left the country.
The police have slapped a travel ban on Irawan and Rico.