Travel ban imposed on ex-bank owners

JAKARTA (JP): The government has issued travel bans on the former owners of three defunct commercial banks for their alleged misuse of Government Liquidity Support (BLBI) funds, an official said on Tuesday.

The three businessmen are Sjamsul Nursalim, Samadikun Hartono and David Nusa Wijaya.

The director for supervision and operations at the Directorate General of Immigration, Muhammad Indra, said the ban became effective on Dec. 22, 2000, and would remain valid for one year.

"The government imposed travel bans on the three former bank owners at the request of the Attorney General's Office, dated Dec. 22, 2000," Indra said at his office.

The request was signed by Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence Affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Yusuf Kartanegara.

Indra said immigration officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport prevented Sjamsul from leaving the country last week.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Muljohardjo, said the travel bans were necessary to expedite the investigation into the three suspects, who allegedly misused the liquidity funds channeled through Bank Indonesia between 1998 and 1999.

"The travel bans were issued due to the intensifying investigation into the BLBI case. We want to prevent the suspects from escaping the investigation," he said at his office.

Sjamsul Nursalim, the former president director of PT Bank Dagang Negara Indonesia (BDNI), is suspected of having misused some Rp 4 trillion (US$421 million) of the liquidity funds. Samadikun Hartono, the former owner of the defunct Bank Modern, is accused of having misused some Rp 190 million of the Rp 2.5 trillion in liquidity support the bank received.

David Nusa Wijaya, alias Ng Tjuen Wei, is the former owner of the defunct Bank Servitia. He is accused of misusing some Rp 681 billion of the Rp 1.27 trillion the bank received from the central bank.

Muljohardjo said the three businessmen had previously been banned from traveling overseas, but this earlier ban expired on May 27, 2000.

The government channeled some Rp 144.5 trillion in emergency liquidity support to 48 banks in an effort to prop them up during massive bank runs as confidence in the banking industry plunged to its lowest point and the country's financial crisis deepened.

A Supreme Audit Agency report stated that some Rp 138.4 trillion of the emergency loans, or 95 percent, were either misused or channeled in violation of banking regulations.

Muljohardjo also revealed that former central bank governor Soedradjad Djiwandono would be questioned as a witness in the BLBI case on Wednesday. (01/bby)