Sigit questioned over $25m bank fraud case

MEDAN (JP): Former president Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto was questioned here on Monday as a witness in a Rp 227 billion (US$25 million) bank fraud case.

North Sumatra's deputy chief prosecutor Bismar Mannu interrogated Sigit for seven hours soon after he arrived in Medan on a special flight.

Sigit refused to answer journalists' questions afterward.

"I do not remember," he said when reporters asked how many questions he was asked.

"He answered more than 30 questions," Mannu said.

The prosecutor's office has declared Armyn, the former director of the North Sumatra Regional Development Bank (BPDSU), and Kusno Wijaya, the owner of real estate company PT Victor Jaya Raya (VJR) as suspects in the alleged bank scam which occurred in 1995.

According to Mannu, Sigit admitted that he and his two friends bought 6,100 of the company's shares for Rp 6.1 billion in 1996, but insisted that he had sold the shares to BPDSU for Rp 25 billion in 1997.

"It was a normal share transaction," Mannu hinted.

Former North Sumatra governor Raja Inal Siregar and his son Yuriandi Siregar were both questioned last week.

As North Sumatra governor for 10 years until early this year, Siregar was the chairman of the bank's supervisory council while his son controlled 1,000 shares of the real estate company.

From 1995 to 1996, the bank disbursed Rp 227 billion in credit to the company which failed to give appropriate collateral.

The company announced in 1995 it planned to build 1,900 luxurious houses, an 18-hole golf course, and an international guest house on the 240-hectare plot in Tuntungan and Medan Johor, in Medan.

However, it was only able to complete 20 percent of the whole project.

This is the second such case for Sigit since his father resigned in May.

In August, under severe public pressure, Sigit's company PT Kekar Pola Airindo, had to sell its stake to manage the production and distribution of drinking water in eastern Jakarta to its partner, Britain's Thames Water International.

Thames Water then established a new joint-venture, Thames Pam Jaya, with the city-owned water company PDAM Jaya.

Sigit's business activities are less well publicized than his brothers Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra, or even his sisters. He was more of a sleeping partner in his companies.

His son, Arie Sigit, even appeared more often in media reports.

Police questioned Bambang early this month as a suspect in an alleged scam involving his liquidated Bank Andromeda. (21/prb)