Travel ban imposed on ex-bank owners
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)