Two of 16 suspects in high-profile BNI scandal tried
Two of 16 suspects in high-profile BNI scandal tried
M. Taufiqurrahman and P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The high-profile state Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) trial began on
Monday at the South Jakarta District Court, with two bank
officials facing corruption charges in a case that caused Rp 1.7
trillion (US$200 million) in state losses.
BNI Kebayoran Baru branch head Koesadiyono and Foreign
Customers Division head Edy Santoso stand accused of violating
Law No. 31/1999 and Law No. 3/1977 on corruption. The pair are
alleged to have disbursed export credits to companies without
proper assessments or checks.
The defendants -- two of 16 suspects implicated in the high-
profile graft case -- could be sentenced to life in prison if
convicted.
Both were also charged under Law No. 10/1998 on banking and
Law No. 15/2002 on money laundering.
In the indictment, prosecutor Mukri A. said the defendants
approved export credits to eight subsidiaries of the Gramarindo
Group and the Petindo Group with bogus letters of credit (L/Cs)
issued by banks in Kenya, Switzerland and the Cook Islands as
collateral.
The companies claimed that they were exporting commodities to
the Republic of Congo and Kenya. Bills attached to the L/Cs were
allegedly fraudulent as the goods were never exported. However,
the export loans had already been channeled.
PT Gramarindo Mega Indonesia, PT Metrantara and PT Maqnetique
Usaha Esa Indonesia allegedly received the money from BNI from
2002 through 2003.
Police have named three BNI officials and 13 employees of the
three companies as suspects in the scandal.
The main suspect, Maria Pauliene Lumowa, is living in
Singapore, which does not have an extradition treaty with
Indonesia.
There have also been rumors that some of Golkar's presidential
hopefuls received a share of the funds. The candidates have
denied receiving any money from the scam.
After hearing the indictment, presiding judge Soedarto
adjourned the trial until April 19, at which time the court will
hear from the defense.
In a related development, investigators at National Police
Headquarters are still questioning the younger brother of Adrian
Waworuntu, another key suspect in the BNI case, over his possible
involvement in the scam.
Police have declined to give the name of the brother, who owns
Adiyta Finance, a vehicle used by the Gramarindo Group to finance
acquisitions by a number of its subsidiaries.
The director of the National Police's white-collar crime unit,
Brig. Gen. Ismoko, said this new line of questioning began after
receiving additional information from Adrian.
"The new evidence we discovered was an account number
belonging to Aditya Finance. It will be of great importance in
finding out where the money went," he said.
Ismoko also said the police had completed the dossiers on
Adrian and Haris Is Hartono, an employee of Gramarindo subsidiary
PT Mahesa, and would soon submit them to prosecutors.
Police are still awaiting the results of tests to authenticate
several documents, including a number of L/Cs produced by PT Tri
Rannu Caraka director Jeffry Basso and PT Bassomindo director
Yudi Basso, Ismoko said.