Two U.S. citizens wanted in Bandung over corruption
Two U.S. citizens wanted in Bandung over corruption
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
The West Java Provincial Prosecutor's Office will send a letter
to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta asking for help in locating two
American citizens who have been declared suspects in a Rp 73
billion corruption case at state-owned PT Telkom's branch office
in West Java.
Marwan Effendi, the head of the prosecutor's office in
Bandung, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that his office had
asked the West Java Provincial Prosecutor's Office for help in
arresting John G. Voundras and Michael Lee Towne, who are
believed to have fled to the United States.
Voundras is the president of PT Ariawest International (AWI),
Telkom's partner company in its Indonesian operations, and Towne
is the former general manager of Telkom's joint
telecommunications operations in West Java.
"We have also asked the U.S. immigration authorities to bar
the two suspects from leaving that country," Marwan said.
Towne and Voundras were declared suspects last Friday by the
Bandung prosecutor's office. The decision to name the two men as
suspects was made based on information gathered from two key
witnesses, Budi Hardono and A. Rizali Noor, the deputy general
manager and treasurer of the Telkom's joint operation,
respectively.
"The two key witnesses gave testimony that they were
instructed by Towne, in his capacity as general manager, to draft
a disposition letter to transfer the funds to AWI's bank
account," Marwan said, adding that the transfer was based on
instructions from Voundras on Oct. 5, 2000, and was carried out
on Oct. 9, 2000.
According to the witnesses, Voundras instructed Budi to issue
a disposition letter to Rizali to transfer the funds to AWI's
account at the Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Jakarta to cover
expatriate and training costs from 1996 to 1999.
Rizali said he issued three disposition letters to the
company's cashier to make out deposits for Rp 15 billion, US$6.56
million and 20.51 million Japanese yen.
Marwan said that according to the witnesses, the transfer of
the funds was considered corruption because it was carried out
without any receipts or other explanatory notes.
According to the result of an internal audit by Telkom, the
company agreed to pay Rp 4 billion rather than the Rp 36 billion
proposed by AWI to cover expatriate and training costs.
Marwan said his office would ask the National Police to
cooperate with Interpol to arrest the two suspects if the U.S.
authorities failed to detain them.
"According to Article 2 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption, the
two could be facing a maximum sentence of death because they are
charged with abusing their power to enrich themselves," Marwan
said.