Tommy's bank accounts have yet to be frozen

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office remains unable to order that bank accounts in the name of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra be blocked as it has yet to receive a list of account numbers from Bank Indonesia, an official said on Wednesday.

Office spokesman Muljohardjo said the central bank had complained about difficulties in circulating the Attorney General's Office directive to banks at which Tommy has accounts.

"Up to now we have yet to freeze any of Tommy's accounts at domestic and foreign banks in Indonesia. We realize that the central bank needs time to extend our request since not all banks are online with Bank Indonesia," Muljohardjo told journalists at his office.

According to Law No. 10/1998 on banking, only law enforcement agencies have the authority to freeze accounts.

"The banks should first receive a formal request from us for Tommy's account numbers before giving them to us through the central bank in order not to violate customer confidentiality," he added.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said last week that his office had asked the central bank to block accounts belonging to the favorite son of former president Soeharto.

The measure, he said, was aimed at limiting the movements of Tommy, who was convicted for graft and has been a fugitive since early November.

On Tuesday, central bank director for legal affairs Sys Abadi confirmed that the bank had conveyed the request from the Attorney General's Office to all banks.

Muljohardjo said the central bank was authorized to punish any banks which ignore the request, adding that banks deliberately disobeying the directive would be considered to be committing a crime.

Tommy was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 18 months in jail for involvement in a land swap deal which caused Rp 76.7 billion (some US$8.07 million) in state losses. (bby)