Two arrested for $2.3m graft case
Two arrested for $2.3m graft case
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
A businessman and a local bank employee were arrested over the
weekend by the Jakarta Police over an alleged fraud involving a
letter of credit (L/C) worth US$2.3 million following a complaint
filed by Citibank, police sources revealed on Monday.
The head of corporate affairs at Citibank's parent company,
Citigroup Indonesia, Ditta Amarhoseya, confirmed the alleged
fraud, saying that Citibank filed the complaint on April 29.
"Yes, we have uncovered an L/C fraud totaling $2.3 million,
but right now, as the case is still under investigation, I cannot
give you any further details," she told The Jakarta Post by
phone.
Police sources said that businessman Suparman Atmaja and bank
employee Sutrisno had violating Criminal Code Articles 263 on
forgery and 378 on embezzlement.
The alleged swindlers are said to have proposed the L/C for
the international trading of 40,000 metric tons of coal. It is
alleged that the documents submitted by the swindlers when
proposing the L/C were counterfeit ones.
An L/C is an instrument commonly used in international trade
to provide a guarantee that funds are available to pay for goods
being sent from abroad. It is necessary that the L/C be issued by
a reputable bank.
One of the detained suspects is the director of the company
proposing the L/C while the other is an employee with a local
bank, police sources said.
When reporters tried to confirm the arrest to with the chief
of the Jakarta Police's special crimes unit, Sr. Comr. Edmon
Ilyas, he only said that he would disclose the details of the
case later as it was still under police investigation.
The counterfeiting of documents for L/C proposals is a
relatively common method of swindling money from banks. A major
criminal case currently being investigated by the National Police
concerns a Rp 1.7 trillion fraud involving officials of state
bank BNI.
Police investigators usually charge suspected swindlers under
Law No. 10/1998 on banking and Law No. 25/2003 on money
laundering, besides charging them with the relevant offenses
under the Criminal Code.