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.