Relatives set out to check on 'Hendra'

Relatives set out to check on 'Hendra'

JAKARTA (JP): Relatives of Hendra Rahardja will leave Hong
Kong for Australia this weekend to verify whether a man detained
in a Sydney jail is their relative, a source close to the family
said on Wednesday.

"Family members will depart from Hong Kong, probably the day
after tomorrow, to Sydney, primarily to check the identity of the
arrested man, who so far has been identified as Hendra Rahardja,"
Alamsyah Hanafiah, a former lawyer to Hendra, told The Jakarta
Post.

He said Hendra's relatives had also told him that if his
identity was confirmed, they would check to see whether or not
Hendra required the assistance of Indonesian lawyers.

As reported earlier, Hendra -- for two years one of
Indonesia's most wanted white-collar criminal suspects -- was
spotted and arrested on June 1 by immigration officers at
Kingsford-Smith International Airport in Sydney.

Hendra allegedly fled Indonesia in 1997 to avoid
accountability, following liquidation of his two banks: Bank
Harapan Sentosa and Bank Guna International.

But police have said Hendra fled with the money of his
depositors, before the government had a chance to liquidate his
bank.

Hendra was one of 24 senior executives from private banks in
Indonesia named last August by police in an investigation of
failed private banks for breaking legal lending limits and
accounting rules.

The offense carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail and
a Rp 6 billion rupiah (US$845,000) fine.

Together with most of his family, Hendra allegedly fled the
country to an unknown destination, forcing Indonesian Police to
request assistance from Interpol branches all over the world to
trace the whereabouts of the suspected criminal.

Last Thursday, Alamsyah quoted Hendra's families as telling
him the man apprehended by Australian Federal Police was not
their relative.

"They (his family) told me there had been no arrest, and that
Hendra was still abroad."

Confirmation

The remarks, however, were strongly denied by Australian and
Indonesian authorities.

Confirming the arrest and identity of Hendra, Australian
Federal Police spokesman Stephen Simpson told Reuters on Saturday
Hendra was detained at the airport where he was attempting to
board a flight to Hong Kong.

Indonesian police quoted their Australian counterparts as
saying earlier that Hendra was arrested shortly after his arrival
from Hong Kong.

DPA reported over the weekend that Hendra had said from the
Sydney jail that he would fight any extradition attempts.

Simpson said Hendra, who is waiting on an extradition hearing,
did not apply for bail when he appeared in a Sydney local court
on June 2.

A procedural hearing, which took place at the court on
Wednesday, failed to decide whether Hendra would be extradited,
due to the absence of a written request from Indonesian
authorities, Antara reported.

Judge Allan Moore adjourned the hearing to July 16, in the
expectation Jakarta would soon submit the appeal.

According to local law, Australia has the right to detain
Hendra for a maximum period of 45 days, from the date of his
arrest.

Complicated

From Jakarta, Brig. Gen. Wayan Ardjana, secretary of
Interpol's national central bureau, confirmed the absence of the
official request for Hendra's extradition from Australia, saying
"police are still working on it before being approved by the
minister of justice".

"It's not an easy job. It's very complicated and we have to be
very careful in carrying it out," Wayan said.

Should the official letter be approved by the minister, the
letter would be handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
which would in turn submit the application to the Australian
Embassy here.

"We hope the official letter of request for extradition will
be completed sometime next week," the officer said.

Hendra reportedly owned PT Yamaha Motor Indonesia, Gajah Mada
Plaza office and shopping center, as well as other companies. He
was also listed as an alleged insolvent debtor, involving some Rp
8.6 billion, by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.

In 1996, his younger brother, Eddy Tansil, bribed his way out
of the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, where he was
serving 20 years for defrauding state-owned Bank Pembangunan
Indonesia (Bapindo) of Rp 1.3 trillion through his PT Golden Key
petrochemical company.(bsr)