- Permata rejects demand to return disputed funds
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Permata president Agus Martowardojo said on Tuesday the bank would not return Rp 546.5 billion in disputed funds to PT Era Giat Prima (EGP) despite demands by the prosecutor's office.
"I'm convinced that the funds legally belong to Bank Bali (now Bank Permata) ... I'm not thinking of withdrawing the funds," Agus said following a meeting at the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.
The head of the prosecutor's office, R. Himawan Kaskawa, said his office would execute the Supreme Court decision ordering Bank Permata to return the funds to EGP.
Himawan said his office would wait for the right time to implement the court's ruling.
Bank Permata and EGP have been involved in a lengthy battle over the funds for the past year.
The case began in 1999 when EGP clinched a deal with the former owner of Bank Bali (the bank was merged with four other banks two years ago to form Bank Permata, the country's 10th largest bank in terms of assets) to help the bank recover about Rp 900 billion funds owed it by two banks that had been closed down.
Under the government's bank guarantee program, the now defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) would have covered the obligations of the closed banks. This means Bank Bali was entitled to recover its funds from IBRA without the services of a middleman.
But at the time, Bank Bali seemed to be having difficulties in retrieving the money and EGP offered its services.
With the help of an IBRA insider, EGP managed to retrieve the funds. But before the company could obtain its huge Rp 546.5 billion fee, the case was leaked to the press. The Bank Bali scandal also had a political flavor, as EGP was owned by businessman Djoko Tjandra, who was linked to the then ruling Golkar Party.
Following the public furor, IBRA canceled the transaction and Djoko and other top IBRA and government officials allegedly involved in the case were brought to court. The Bank Bali scandal was seen as a factor in the failure of B.J. Habibie to be reelected president during the 1999 elections.
Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed criminal charges against Djoko and ordered Bank Permata to pay the money to EGP, which would be a serious financial blow to the bank and could force the government (or taxpayers) to bail out the bank.
Agus insisted that IBRA had the legal right to cancel the deal between Bank Bali and EGP.
"According to Law No. 10/1998 and Government Regulation No. 17/1999, IBRA has the right to make such a ruling. And with the cancellation, the funds belong to Bank Bali (now Bank Permata)," said Agus.
According to Law No. 10/1998 on banking, IBRA had the right to review, cancel, end, or change any contracts between ailing banks and third parties.
Government Regulation No. 17/1999 on IBRA says the agency has the right to review, cancel, end, and/or change any contracts between banks and third parties that result in losses for the banks.
There has also been increased criticism of the prosecutor's office in this case, with critics saying the office should be focusing on filing for a review of the case rather than helping EGP get the disputed funds.
- Manggarai returns into normal
Friday, March 12, 2004
Yemris Fointuna and PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Kupang/Jakarta
The situation in Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara, has returned to normal following a bloody rampage in the regency town of Ruteng on Wednesday that killed five people and injured 28 others, including several police personnel.
Reliable sources in Ruteng told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Thursday that people were going about their daily activities, public offices were open again and many supporters of political parties marched along the main streets on the first day of the election campaign.
But, hundreds of security personnel deployed after the incident, have remained on guard in anticipation of further clashes.
Spokesman for the National Police Brig. Gen. Soenarko said the situation was calm after more than 200 security personnel were deployed following the incident.
Five were killed and 28 others were injured when a number of police personnel opened fire on around 400 villagers who stormed the Manggarai Police Precinct in Ruteng to demand the release of seven villagers arrested at the police detention center.
The five fatalities were identified as Max Piu, 30, Frans Magur, 60, Yoseph Tafuk, 23, Vitalis Jarut, 23 and Dominicus Amput, 40, while the number of injured victims were 28 and not 24 as was reported on Thursday. Seven police personnel were also injured in the incident.
The police station was also badly damaged in the incident.
According to the preliminary investigation, the police opened fire because the villagers had run amok and had attacked police personnel who were in the backyard of the police station.
Police Chief Da'i warned on Wednesday that he would take strict action if any police personnel, including the police chief, had violated procedures in handling the incident.
In Jakarta, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and the Indonesian Forest Conservation Cooperation Network Skephi deplored the incident, and called on the government to investigate the shooting thoroughly.
The two non-governmental organizations said Manggarai regent Antony Bagur Dagul should be held responsible for the incident because he has barred locals from farming in the disputed protected forest and ordered the police to arrest seven farmers, the owners of a coffee plantation in the forest.
They said the regent's action was flawed because the forest belonged to the local communities before it was declared a nature reserve.
The police also apologized on Thursday to families whose relatives were killed and injured in the incident.
East Nusa Tenggara Provincial Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Arthur Damanik said in Kupang that the police and the local administration in Manggarai had conveyed their condolences to the families of the victims and visited the injured at Manggarai General Hospital to convey their apologies for the incident.
"Provincial Police chief Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang accompanied by the Manggarai regent apologized to the relatives of the deceased and to the injured victims at the hospital," he said in the job transfer ceremony at the Kupang Police station.
Damanik said that the police had deployed two separate teams to carry out a thorough investigation into the incident.
A team which was sent by National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar and led by Sr. Comr. Iwan Ismeth, is still on its way to Manggarai while a nine-member fact-finding team established by the provincial police has already commenced its investigation, he said.
The two teams will work separately although they will be probing the same case, he said without explaining why the police set up two teams.
- Police awaiting permit in AG case
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police have blamed the unresponsive state bureaucracy for their inability to question Attorney General M.A. Rachman over allegations of his involvement in corruption.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Basyir Barmawi said on Monday that the police had already followed the set administrative procedures by submitting a request for presidential permission to summon Rachman for questioning.
"We sent our request to President Megawati so long ago that I have forgotten exactly when it was. Even National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar also sent a request. Given that permission has not yet been given, it is obvious that the problem is not on our side," said Basyir.
Any investigation of senior state officeholders, such as Cabinet ministers, House of Representatives' members, or, as in this case, the Attorney General, requires the written permission of the president.
He said that it would be impossible for the police to violate administrative rules. "We are the upholders of the law. What would happen if we were to violate it?" he asked.
The Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) previously complained that the police were using the absence of presidential permission to summon Rachman as justification for not investigating the allegations of corruption that had been laid against him.
"It's not true to say that we are less than committed to investigating corruption cases. We are committed and consistent in line with democracy and reform in this country," said Basyir.
He said there was no need to review the progress of the investigation as that would only need to be done if the investigators came up against problems in questioning witnesses.
"Such problems have not arisen, and the investigators have already questioned a number of witnesses. The only problem is that permission has yet to be given by the President," added Basyir.
The KPKPN reported Rachman to the police in December 2002 after it found discrepancies between Rachman's wealth declaration and its inquiries on the ground.
The attorney general failed to declare a luxurious house worth around Rp 5 billion located at Jl. Penida 10 in the Graha Cinere housing complex in Limo district, Depok, West Java.
The commission also found that Rachman failed to clarify the source of bank deposits in his name totaling Rp 800 million.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has the authority to appoint or remove the attorney general, refused to dismiss Rachman, saying that firing him would not resolve the problem and that the case was politically motivated.
- Komnas HAM to investigate Manggarai shooting
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
PC Naommy and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) revealed on Monday that it planned to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the shooting by police officers of demonstrating farmers in Manggarai, Flores, last week.
"There are a number of reasons for the sending of the team to Manggarai, including the fact that the shooting killed five people and injured dozens of others," Taheri Noor, a member of the commission, said during a meeting with a group calling itself the Manggarai People's Advocacy Team.
Promising to send the mission soon, Taheri said that the deaths of civilians indicated possible rights violations.
He did not name the members of the team or when exactly the team would leave for Manggarai.
Erwin Usman, who led the advocacy team, said he expected the commission to investigate how it had happened that police officers had opened fire directly on civilians.
In Ruteng, Flores, the Manggarai diocese announced that an independent fact-finding team had started an investigation to find out what had really happened, Antara reported.
"The team will conduct investigations on the ground so as to determine the facts of the case from various sources, including the police, local religious leaders, community leaders and the people actually involved in the incident," said Rev. Mali, the head of the diocese's justice and truth commission.
Meanwhile, National Police Headquarters announced on Monday that the Nusa Tenggara police had arrested ten suspects in the March 11 bloody incident.
None of the suspects, however, were police officers.
"They were involved in the attack on the Manggarai subprecinct police office," deputy police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko told reporters here Monday.
All of the suspects were caught red-handed carrying machetes during the incident, Soenarko said.
East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Police chief Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang told reporters in Kupang on Monday that Manggarai police sub-precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Bonifasius Tompoi had been suspended from his post so as to facilitate the investigation.
Tompoi had been replaced by Adj. Sr. Comr. Wasiran Robert, the head of internal supervision with the NTT police.
"The internal investigation aimed at finding out why our officers fired on the protesting farmers," he told reporters.
Around 400 coffee farmers stormed the Manggarai sub-prescient police office on March 11 to demand the release of seven locals who had been detained by police for planting coffee in a protected forest.
The police claimed they had opened fire on machete-wielding and stone-throwing farmers, who had ignored warning shots to disperse.
Edward accused "provocateurs" of instigating the attack on the police office.
The Manggarai regency has banned agriculture in protected forests but locals have been ignoring the ban as they consider the land involved to be their ancestral land.
Despite protests from farmers, the local administration has destroyed about 15,000 hectares of illegally cultivated coffee since last year.
- Police denies causing state losses
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report that questionable police auditing procedures had "lost" Rp 7.1 billion of public money last year, was rejected by the National Police on Tuesday.
The Inspector General for the police's General Supervision Body (Itwasum), Comr. Gen. Binarto said the BPK's original report was incomplete.
Binarto said limited resources were to blame for the department's inability to annually audit all working units in provincial police departments across the country.
"It's understandable that the BPK isn't able to audit all working units in Polri (National Police), as we, as (the police's) internal auditors, couldn't do so either," Binarto said.
He said the BPK's findings only indicated "potential" losses, not any real losses to the country.
Police had since supplied the BPK with updated information on the new units, which meant more money from the state budget was accounted for.
"We have already updated the BPK's first half-year report, which it has accepted, so during the first half-year we believe all public money was properly accounted for," Binarto said.
The BPK has audited seven police departments across the country. Four of the audits were conducted during the first half-of last year, while another three were done in the second half.
An earlier audit found a total of Rp 12.67 billion in accounting irregularities for the 2003 fiscal year. However, the BPK cleared Rp 9.07 billion of these losses after police submitted additional documents.
Binarto admitted there were still potential losses amounting to Rp 3.6 billion for the second semester.
"We have also submitted an adjustment to BPK's second half-year audit by completing financial accountability reports. Now we are waiting for the BPK's response," Binarto said.
The police did not anticipate any likelihood of rejection of the revised report.
"We have found that most of the irregularities found by the BPK are caused by the lack of adherence to accounting procedures by police personnel who have not presented their financial accountability reports," Binarto said.
A lack of funding has also caused confusion within the police's supervisory body. Itwasum had earlier maintained it still needed to recheck the BPK audits to ensure they were valid. It has also said it would not audit working units already audited by the BPK for reasons of cost-efficiency.
- U.S. shares files on Hambali with RI
Thursday, March 18, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The U.S. has handed over 125 files on its investigation of Indonesian-born terrorist suspect Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali to the government, an official says.
"The files were handed to the police several weeks ago," Dino Patti Djalal, director on North and Central America with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday.
Hambali, a suspected senior leader of both the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network and al-Qaeda itself, has been under U.S. custody since his arrest last August in Thailand.
The U.S. has turned down Indonesia's request for direct access to Hambali, who was born in Cianjur, West Java, arguing that he was still needed for further investigation.
Dino, however, did not reveal the contents of the files, nor say whether they might be used to open a new case against militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, whose three-year prison sentence for immigration offenses and document forgery was reduced from three years to 18 months by the Supreme Court this month.
During his visit to Jakarta last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said his country had observed the deep and intense involvement of Ba'asyir in both planning and executing terrorist activities.
Foreign governments had accused Ba'asyir of leading JI, which has been blamed for the Bali bombings in October 2002 and a string of other deadly attacks since 2000.
A security ministry official has said the cleric may be tried again if new evidence emerges linking him to terror attacks.
Meanwhile, head of the Data and Information Department of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) Fauzan al-Anshari called on the police on Wednesday not to investigate the files on Ba'asyir, "whose prison term will end on April 4.
"We don't want the trauma of Abu Bakar's forced detention by police on Oct. 28, 2002 to be repeated. We are worried that police will arrest Abu once he is released over unverified information from overseas intelligence," Fauzan said.
Fauzan said he met with Ba'asyir on Tuesday to convey the news to him. Ba'asyir, according to Fauzan, was ready to be confronted by Hambali.
During the conversation, according to Fauzan, the cleric said that even if he respected judicial processes, it was obvious that the U.S would never accept the appeal verdict.
Fauzan also said that MMI, which is headed by Ba'asyir, had arranged a visit to the U.S. Embassy to "formalize its protest of the country's intervention in Ba'asyir's case".
"We will meet the first secretary of the U.S. Embassy next Tuesday to convey our protest of America's deep intervention in Abu's case," Fauzan said referring to Ba'asyir.
- Police suspect C4 used in Medan supermarket bomb
Friday, March 19, 2004
PC Naommy and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
There were strong indications the bomb found at a shopping mall in Medan, North Sumatra last week contained the C4 plastic explosive, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Thursday.
"There are indications of C4, but we are not certain yet. We are sure it was a highly explosive bomb," Da'i said at the inauguration of Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono as the new national police chief of detectives.
Da'i said the presence of the military-issued C4 explosive in the bomb had prompted the government to involve the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the investigation.
"We invited them to help because they have expertise in dealing with C4 and so we could trace the purchase of the materials," Da'i said.
A bomb package, consisting of five-sticks of M-112 explosives linked with detonators, was found at the deposit counter of the Macan Yaohan supermarket in Medan, North Sumatra last week.
The discovery took place just two days before the legislative campaign kicked off on March 11, raising fears a group was planning to use terror to disrupt the election process.
The explosive was quickly detonated. The police have suggested it could have been planted by the Free Aceh Movement or Malaysian Dr. Azahari's Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist cell.
Azahari and another Malaysian, Noordin Mohd Top, both still at large, are believed to have made bombs for the deadly Bali bombing on Oct. 12, 2002 and the Marriot Hotel bombing on Aug. 5, last year. The two bombs killed more than 200 people.
The two men are accused of being members of regional terrorist network JI, which is linked to Osama bin Laden's international terrorist network al-Qaeda.
The FBI arrived in Medan, North Sumatra on Wednesday to help Indonesia investigate the bomb.
"They will only help us study the bomb, and we could also ask for help from other countries," Da'i said. The team would remain working here for sometime he said.
Since the Bali bombing, Indonesia has cooperated with other countries in fighting international terrorism, notably the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the FBI, which have actively supported the country with their forensic expertise.
"We need FBI's help in the Medan bomb case as there are some things that we need to unravel," Da'i said.
- Police focus on possible Hambali-Ba'asyir link
Friday, March 19, 2004
PC Naommy and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar hinted on Thursday that the information shared by the United States on Hambali could be used to investigate Abu Bakar Ba'asyir further for his alleged role in regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).
Da'i said police were studying and evaluating all intelligence received, including on Hambali, to see if there was any evidence of the cleric's involvement in JI, which has been blamed for the October 2002 Bali blasts and the August 2003 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta.
He acknowledged that some reports mentioned Ba'asyir's presence at several JI meetings.
"The information comes from investigation results in Indonesia and Malaysia and from Hambali himself," Da'i said.
Da'i was referring to more than 125 transcripts of Hambali's interrogation by the U.S.
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono confirmed on Thursday that he had also received copies of the U.S.' intelligence report on its interrogation of Hambali.
"We received it sometime ago," Hendropriyono said.
The intelligence chief, however, refused to comment on a possible link between Hambali and Ba'asyir.
"That is not what we are looking for in these documents," he said.
Responding to a growing suspicion expressed by the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) over the renewed interest in their leader, Ba'asyir's, Da'i said no one need worry, as police would act in accordance with the law.
MMI executive Fauzan al-Anshari had previously expressed his concern that the police were attempting to set another dragnet for Ba'asyir by attempting to link the cleric with international terrorism networks.
Da'i said it was also possible for the police to investigate Ba'asyir further and follow up with existing legal procedures if enough information and clues emerged as evidence.
"In any case involving anyone, including Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, once we find any clues or information that lead us to evidence that can be used in the process of law, we will follow it up," said Da'i. He suggested, however, that people refrain from second-guessing a conclusion before the process was completed.
The Supreme Court recently upheld the lower court's verdict on charges of immigration and document fraud against Ba'asyir, but reduced his sentence to 18 months from three years. Accusations that the cleric was the spiritual leader of JI was thrown out by the district court.
With the Supreme Court's reduction, Ba'asyir will be complete his jail term on April 4, the day before the legislative election.
The U.S. has insisted that Ba'asyir was deeply involved in terrorist activities and has asked Indonesia to take its assessment into account.
In Canberra, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said as quoted by AP on Thursday that Indonesia should not release Ba'asyir from prison as scheduled next month, because he might incite further violence.
Downer warned that JI had up to 5,000 members in Indonesia in a grave assessment of the threat on Australia's doorstep.
"He will endeavor to inspire this perverted interpretation of Islam and try to inspire his followers to overthrow in time moderate Islamic governments and to attack what they regard as infidels and heretics," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
On Australia's Seven Network television station late on Tuesday, Ba'asyir said in an interview in his jail cell that the U.S. and its allies in the Iraq invasion, especially Britain and Australia, would be destroyed "in the name of Allah". He also blamed last week's deadly bombings in Madrid on Spain's support in the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
- Swedish prosecutors visit burned schools in war-torn Aceh
Friday, March 19, 2004
Nani Farida and PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jakarta
Swedish prosecutors visited Aceh Besar regency on Thursday to see for themselves hundreds of school buildings allegedly burned down by members of separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) at the onset of the military offensive in the troubled province last May.
Accompanied by Aceh Police detective chief Sr. Comr. Surya Darma and Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Gaguk Supartono, the team studied documents and photographs describing the conditions of the schools before and after their renovation.
At least 607 school buildings were burned down by alleged GAM members at the beginning of the joint operation aimed at, among other things, stamping out the secessionist movement, which has been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province since 1976.
The government has accused the rebels of carrying out a series of terrorist attacks across the country, and pressed Sweden to take firm action against GAM leaders residing in that country, including movement founder Hasan Tiro.
Responding to Indonesian pressure, Sweden sent the team to Aceh to investigate crimes committed by rebels in the province.
They arrived in Aceh on Wednesday to question a number of imprisoned or detained rebels in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
On the first day of investigation, the team questioned several witnesses -- most of whom were GAM prisoners -- at the provincial police headquarters. While carrying out the investigation, the team was accompanied by staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Those questioned on Wednesday included GAM negotiators Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba and Muhammad Usman. They are now serving prison terms up to 16 years in the Banda Aceh penitentiary after the district court declared them guilty of treason and terrorism.
The Swedish investigators are slated to visit the Tanjung Gusta penitentiary in Medan, North Sumatra to interview GAM prisoners before returning to Jakarta on Sunday.
The team is also scheduled to interview Cut Farida, one of two Acehnese women held hostage by GAM for almost seven months before their release in January.
Farida, the wife of an Air Force officer, said the Swedish prosecutors might interview her on Saturday at the National Police headquarters here in Jakarta.
"I told them (detective officers from the Transnational Crime Division) about my experiences as a hostage of GAM," she said.
Meanwhile, 14 rebels in Tamiang have surrendered to the Indonesian Marines overseeing Meurandeh and Telaga Muku areas in East Aceh regency.
According to East Aceh Military District Commander Lt. Cl. Sunari, the 14 rebels, including their field commander Razali alias Risyad, 51, surrendered last week and handed over several riffles, including an AK-47 riffle.
"Within the past few weeks, the rebels have lacked supplies and were forced to eat anything they could find, while hiding in remote jungles," Sunari said.
- Five suspects named in BI case
Saturday, March 20, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have named five suspects in the Account 520 case, the first names in a Rp 20.9 trillion scandal involving Bank Indonesia (BI) and the now-defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
Brig. Gen. Sugiri, a senior officer at the corruption and white collar crime division of the National Police, said Friday the suspects were two former senior officials of BI Surabaya's branch and three former senior supervisors of Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR) in Surabaya, East Java.
Sugiri said the suspects were believed to be responsible for disbursing funds totaling Rp 26 billion from the 502 account without adhering to proper procedures.
He declined to reveal the names of the five suspects, saying only that they were a former BI Surabaya head, a former BI executive supervisor for BPR in Surabaya, and three former managers of BPR Cipta Artha Loka.
Sugiri said East Java police had confiscated 26 documents related to the transactions.
None of the suspects had been detained because they were cooperative and were said to have no intention to avoid investigations.
The National Police are investigating alleged misuse of some Rp 20.9 trillion of Account 502 funds, an account created to help restructure ailing banks at the height of the economic crisis in 1999, by BI and the IBRA.
According to Sugiri, police are still studying the possible involvement of IBRA officials in the fund disbursement.
Account 502, in which some Rp 53.77 trillion was deposited, was opened in 1999 under the name of the then Minister of Finance, Bambang Subianto, who later reportedly gave BI and IBRA the authority to use it.
An audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), issued in the middle of 2003, gave rise to allegations of the misuse of Account 502 funds by BI and the IBRA.
- Whistle-blower to drop testimony against AG
Saturday, March 20, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The investigation into alleged corruption involving Attorney General MA Rachman was dealt a large blow on Friday when a key witness said he would withdraw his testimony.
Prosecution witness Kito Irkhamni, who gave the Public Servant's Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) the initial tip that led to the investigation, submitted to the National Police on Friday a statement refusing to be a witness and withdrawing his earlier testimony that implicated the attorney general.
"I haven't got any witness protection from KPKPN, that's why I withdraw the evidence and refuse to testify in the case," Kito said.
The KPKPN had failed give him witness protection support during his trial in which he was convicted of fraud involving Rp 480 million (US$56,470), he said.
The South Jakarta District Court found Kito guilty of failing to fulfill a Rp 480 million construction job on a house owned by Ati Mulyati in Puri Cinere, South Jakarta, after spending more than a year on the project.
He was sentenced to one month and 23 days for the fraud, minus the detention period for the trial, which covered the same amount of time.
"I agreed to give testimony in the MA Rachman case because the KPKPN had promised to put me under its witness protection program. But the reality was a big zero!" said Kito.
Before his trial, Kito had testified before the KPKPN on Rachman's alleged hidden wealth in the form of a luxury house in Depok, West Java, estimated to be worth over Rp 5 billion.
"So, it isn't that I don't respect the KPKPN, but I will need more than just one day or a week of protection," said Kito in response to a statement from KPKPN that it had provided him protection and assistance in facing several threats during his trial.
Kito also complained about prolonged legal procedures for the case. He said the KPKPN should have urged the police to speed up the process so the case would not be "contaminated".
Kito said the lengthy investigation into Rachman's case had put him and his family in a difficult situation. "I cannot do my job and my business is stuck because of this matter," he said.
Kito said if the police had been serious about investigating the case, it would have been easy to spare a day to meet with President Megawati Soekarnoputri and ask her for permission to question the attorney general.
"The National Police chief is an assistant to the President and should have direct access to her and ask for a permit to question him. I'm sure it wouldn't take more than a day to do that," Kito said.
KPKPN head of the Rahman investigation Petrus Selestinus told The Jakarta Post it was odd for Kito to withdraw testimony he had already given.
"It is strange if he plans to take back what he said during the examination. It's okay for him to do it, but he should do it according to the rules," Petrus said.
People couldn't just hand in a letter to the police to withdraw testimony, he said. Kito should have gone to the KPKPN, informed them of which part of the testimony he wanted to withdraw and then compiled a new dossier.
Petrus said the KPKPN would not be deaf to allegations against Rachman. However: "If the police can't find enough evidence that can bring Rahman to court, then we will accept that," he said.
Petrus said clarity in the case was needed, since Rahman had the right to legal assistance.
- Swedish law enforcers question JSX bombers, ex GAM hostage
Sunday, March 21, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Swedish prosecutors and police questioned on Saturday five Acehnese, including two convicted of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) bombing in 2000, as part of their investigation into Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leader Hasan Tiro, who lives in exile in Sweden.
The Swedish law enforcers also heard the account of Cut Safrida, one of two women who walked free in January after being held hostage by GAM for seven months.
"I just told them my experience during the ordeal, nothing more," a tearful Safrida told the press at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.
Safrida was the only person willing to speak about the questioning, which took the Swedish team seven hours.
During the questioning, the team was accompanied by three officials from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, two officers from the Jakarta Police and an interpreter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The team is in Indonesia to gather information on Tiro and other GAM leaders with Swedish citizenship.
The three Acehnese prisoners questioned were Ibrahim Hasan and Ramli, who were brought from the Cirebon penitentiary in West Java, and Irwan from Nusa Kambangan penitentiary in Central Java.
Ibrahim, a former Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) soldier, was convicted for the JSX bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment, as was Irwan, a former Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) member.
Ramli, who deserted from the Aceh Military Command, was convicted of selling arms to the rebels and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Two former GAM members also questioned were Daelami, 30, who claimed to be the GAM governor of Takengon, and Maulidan, 46, a former guerrilla who once underwent military training in Libya. Both of them have left GAM and pledged allegiance to Indonesia.
Bambang Krisbanu, warden of Cipinang Penitentiary, said the men were questioned one by one and were divided into two groups in order to save time.
He said Daelami and Maulidan had arrived in Jakarta from Banda Aceh hours before the questioning, while Ibrahim, Ramli and Irwan arrived on Friday.
A source, however, said the last three prisoners had been in Jakarta for a week. He said Ibrahim and Ramli arrived from Cirebon on March 13 at 9:15 a.m. while Irwan arrived from Nusa Kambangan penitentiary on March 14.
The Swedish team and top officials from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs will hold a joint press conference on Sunday at 10 a.m,
- Elections could be postponed: Minister
Thursday, March 25, 2004
PC Naommy and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In spite of repeated assurances from the General Election Commission (KPU) that the election would be held on schedule, several delays in the preparations have led one highly placed minister to consider a delay.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno hinted on Wednesday that the election may be delayed in certain areas due to problems with the procurement and distribution of polling materials including 660 million ballot papers.
After a meeting on security preparations for the election, Hari said it now appeared impossible to deliver all materials 10 days (March 26) before the election, planned for April 5.
Under Election Law No. 12/2003, ballot papers must reach the village election committees and overseas election committees 10 days before election day.
Hari said if by March 26, a number of areas had not yet received the materials, then the KPU, coordinating with the president and the legislature, would enact emergency actions, such as delaying the election.
Hari said that there were about 22 articles in the Election Law No. 12/2003 and No. 23/2003 which dealt with election delays.
Under articles 118 and 119 of the Election Law, a rescheduling of the election in certain areas is possible under certain circumstances, such as social unrest, natural disasters or other security disturbances, which could lead to a disruption.
As a direct consequence of rescheduling, Hari said the tabulation of the votes would also be delayed.
A decision will be made after a consultation meeting with the KPU, the president and the legislature, Hari said.
The KPU must publicly announce the progress of election materials, up to 10 days before the polling day.
Commission spokesman Lukman Syah said that as of early Wednesday there were no regions which were completely without election materials.
A delay would only be "half a day" at the most, Lukman said.
Separately KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, said Wednesday that the Commission would consult with the government and the House of Representatives within the next few days, to decide on what measures would be taken -- while reiterating that the KPU was not considering postponement.
Nazaruddin said the printing of ballots for the House election were almost completed. All but one province now have all their ballots printed, he said, the exception being West Java for which the printing of ballots was also nearly complete.
The printing of ballots for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) stood at 99.77 percent, provincial legislative council election at 95 percent, and regental/municipal legislative election at 85 percent, he said.
"The printing of ballot paper for the House and DPD elections is okay," he said.
But printing of ballots for the provincial legislative council in Riau had just reached 75 percent, Yogyakarta 56 percent, Banten 50 percent, Southeast Sulawesi 95 percent and North Sumatra 99 percent.
"So far the printing of ballot paper for provincial legislative council election in 25 provinces stood at 100 percent, and only seven have not yet finished," he said.
Printing of ballots paper for the regental/municipal legislative elections in 17 provinces have not yet reached 100 percent, he said. He did not elaborate on the distribution of the materials.
Nazaruddin also said that 90 percent of indelible ink bottles had been delivered to regencies and municipalities.
- Evidence too week to charge Adrian, prosecutor says
Friday, March 26, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A senior prosecutor said on Thursday the police had failed to provide adequate evidence for indictment against businessman Adrian Woworuntu, a key suspect in the Bank National Indonesia (BNI) scandal.
Marwan Effendi, the assistant for special crimes at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office said that according to Article 183 of the Criminal Code Procedures, the police must present evidence that a criminal action actually happened and that the suspect was guilty of the crime.
According to Marwan, the case file submitted by the police was weak because none of the witnesses or evidence supported the accusation based on Article 2 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication and Article 3 or 6 of Law No. 15/2002 on money laundering, which were used by the police to charge Adrian.
Adrian has been released after 120 days in police detention, the maximum detention period for a suspect who is undergoing police investigation.
He is the co-owner of Gramarindo, a business group that reportedly received Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) from publicly listed BNI in the form of 41 bogus letters of credit issued by some unreliable foreign banks. The other owner is Maria Paulien Lumowa, who is still at large.
Marwan said none of the witnesses questioned saw, or heard of, or took part in the crime allegedly committed by Adrian.
The dossier submitted by the police, according to Marwan, failed to reflect Article 55 Paragraph 1 on the participation in an offense and Article 56 Paragraph 1 on the assistance in a crime.
"So far, there is no evidence which proves that Adrian had transferred the money, nor were there any documents related with Adrian's signature," said Marwan.
He admitted that cases of corruption and money laundering were very hard to prosecute, especially if the perpetrators were professional and knew how to exploit loopholes in the law.
"The release of Adrian Woworuntu is just a logical consequence of the investigation," said Marwan.
Marwan added that if, in the end, the police could not provide the prosecutors with appropriate witnesses or evidence, then Adrian would be acquitted.
Rashid Lubis from Police Watch sees the case as a lack of knowledge of advanced banking law among the police.
"There should be a forum within the police to help them face criminal cases related to banking," said Rashid.
Such a forum, according to Rashid, would help police deal with banking cases, and how to determine which of the existing laws could be applied.
Most alleged bank fraud cases that were brought to court resulted in the acquittal of the defendants or lenient punishments.
Criminologist Adrianus Meliala from the University of Indonesia said there were several possible obstacles to bringing a suspect in a bank scam to trial.
"It was possible there was a conspiracy between the police and several parties who wanted Adrian to be freed by intentionally buying time until the legal detention period expired, the police found it hard to comply with the law, or that the prosecutors were trying to discourage the police by asking too much," he said.
- Expert brought in to help with BNI case
Saturday, March 27, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have enlisted two prominent legal experts to back up their allegation businessman Adrian Woworuntu was involved a high-profile Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) financial scandal involving state Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).
Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono said on Friday the police had asked Harkristuti Harkrisnowo and Andi Hamzah from the University of Indonesia to act as their expert witnesses on criminal law.
"This is only a technical matter. We already have several pieces of legal evidence, including several documents, and other expert witnesses to strengthen our case," Landung said.
Suyitno said police would hold a meeting with the prosecutors to review the progress of the investigation and discuss flaws in the existing dossier on Adrian.
"We will discuss the inadequacies in the dossier, and hopefully, we will be able to include all the materials required by (prosecutors) next week," Suyitno said.
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office earlier returned Adrian's dossier on the grounds police had failed to build a strong case against Adrian, a key suspect in the scandal.
Marwan Effendi, the assistant for special crimes at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office said on Thursday the case file submitted by the police was not strong enough to indict Adrian for breaking Article 2 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication and Article 3 of Law No. 15/2002 on money laundering.
Marwan said there were no documents proving the existence of any money transactions, nor any documents with Adrian's signature on them to support articles 55 and 56 on criminal law about aiding and abetting a crime.
Suyitno, however, argued the police already had enough documents for evidence. "We already have such documents -- for example, there is a document which mentions the participation of the suspect. All we need now is for the expert witnesses to strengthen this evidence," he said.
Adrian is the co-owner of Gramarindo, a business group that reportedly received Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) from publicly listed BNI with 41 fake letters of credit issued by some foreign banks. The other owner, Maria Paulien Lumowa, is still at large.
The police arrested Adrian on Nov. 18, last year for questioning after hunting him for a month.
They were forced to release him on Friday last week because they had failed to complete the case file required for Adrian's indictment before the maximum legal detention period of 120 days was up.
"Today we plan to hold a meeting with the prosecutors to review the investigation progress and discuss the flaws in the dossier. Hopefully, we will complete it by next week," said Suyitno.
There is rising concern Adrian may try to escape from the legal action against him and flee the country once the travel ban imposed on him lapses on April 19.
"Travel bans can be extended and we will extend his travel ban to anticipate such an action," Suyitno said.
- Cops search Cimanggis group's files
Saturday, March 27, 2004
PC Naommy and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police are examining files in a notebook computer seized from the site of an explosion in Cimanggis, Depok, for clues about possible networks and the financial sources of a group whose members accidentally detonated a homemade bomb during training.
National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono told the press on Friday that the police had copied files from the notebook computer owned by Oman Rahman, the suspected leader of the group.
"A joint Jakarta-National Police team was set up to glean more information from the copied files," he said.
Suyitno declined to give more details on the files, saying the team had yet to study them.
He also said the police were continuing a probe into a letter found at the crime scene to verify whether the group had planned a number of bomb attacks in several Jakarta shopping malls.
Oman's letter was addressed to his family in Sumedang, West Java, asking them to stay away from public places, including shopping malls, and not to join the general election as they were arranged by heathens.
Jakarta Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said the police officially had nine suspects -- Oman, Ferdiansyah, Syarif Hidayat, Agus Kusnianto, Kamaluddin, Septiono H. Widiantono, Ubaedah, Inggrid and Syamsu M. Arif -- in their custody. Widiantono and Ubaedah were arrested respectively on Wednesday and Thursday and declared suspects shortly after their arrests.
Police are continuing their interrogation of Wasis and Candra Pasma -- who were declared suspects earlier -- along with four others.
The police have questioned 28 people since the Cimanggis explosion on the night of March 21, and released 13 people hours after the blast.
City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said they had yet to confirm whether the Cimanggis group was a new group or a part of a larger terror network.
- Police release more suspects in BNI scandal
Monday, March 29, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have released more suspects in the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) financial scandal on the grounds that the period of their detention permitted under existing legislation has lapsed.
Without giving precise details, police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said on Saturday that two other suspects -- Jefrey Baso and Judi Baso -- had been released from police detention.
Police earlier released one of the key suspects -- Adrian Woworuntu -- for the same reason.
Adrian is co-owner of Gramarindo, a business group that reportedly received Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) from publicly listed BNI by redeeming 41 bogus letters of credit issued by unreliable foreign banks. The other owner is Maria Paulien Lumowa, an Indonesian-born Dutchwoman currently still at large.
Judi, on the other hand, is a director of PT Basomindo, a subsidiary of Gramarindo.
"According to Article 24 of the Criminal Code Procedure we have to release a detainee if we fail to complete his or her dossier after the maximum 120-day detention period is over," Soenarko said on Saturday.
The scandal revolves around the disbursement of export credit worth Rp 1.7 trillion from December 2002 to July 2003 by BNI's Kebayoran Baru branch to eight Gramarindo subsidiaries, without completing the necessary assessments.
Police detected irregularities and alleged that the bills of loading attached to the letters of credit were fraudulent, as the goods were never exported, but the export loans were still disbursed.
Soenarko stressed that the release of three suspects did not mean the end of the story as the police would still try their best to complete the dossiers, as requested by prosecutors.
The police have put the three suspects under surveillance by imposing a travel ban on them and requiring them to report to the police regularly.
Police named 16 people as suspects in the high-profile scandal, and, according to Soenarko, prosecutors completed four case files involving nine suspects, which were ready for trial.
Investigators also submitted the dossiers of Nurcahyo, former BNI deputy for Region X, and Haris Is Hartono, to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office and were awaiting the prosecutor's response.
Soenarko said the police were still completing four dossiers on five other suspects -- Adrian Woworuntu, Jefrey and Judi Baso, John Hamenda and Rudi Sutopo.
Investigators were currently discussing some of the evidence in Adrian's case with two experts on criminal law to help strengthen their case.
"For Jefrey and Judi Baso, we're still awaiting the result of an examination of several documents from the National Police forensic and criminology laboratory," Soenarko said.
- Police have enough evidence to bring Adrian to court
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A law expert said on Tuesday there was strong evidence of a conspiracy between Adrian Wowuruntu and Maria Lumowa, key suspects in the Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) financial fraud involving Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).
"The evidence is strong enough to take Adrian to court, and there will be no loopholes for Adrian's lawyers to pull their client through," said Andi Hamzah of the University of Indonesia, who is an expert witness in the case.
Andi said existing evidence proved that Adrian had accepted several money transfers from Maria into his personal account.
"In this case, it can be said that Adrian not only abetted Maria Lumowa, but he was also a co-conspirator in the crime," he said.
Marwan Effendi, assistant prosecutor for special crimes at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, said earlier that the police had failed to provide adequate evidence to try Adrian.
Marwan said no documents existed to prove that any transactions had taken place between Adrian and Maria, nor did any documents exist bearing Adrian's signature to support Article 55 and 56 of the Criminal Code on aiding and abetting a crime.
National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono told The Jakarta Post that police had completed Adrian's case file and had submitted it to the prosecutor's office on Tuesday evening.
The police team investigating the case has asked Andi and two experts from the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK), a money laundering watchdog, to help them provide solid evidence to arrest Adrian, who has been released because his detention period had lapsed.
The police had originally also named Andi's colleague Harkristuti Harkrisnowo as an expert witness, but dropped her from the list without giving any clear reasons for her omission.
Asked about the other four suspects currently detained at National Police headquarters, Suyitno said the police had determined Adrian's case as top priority.
The loan scandal involves the BNI branch in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, which channeled export loans without undertaking proper appraisals to the Gramarindo Group and the Petindo Group in order to finance the export of commodities to the Congo and Kenya.
The exporting companies supported their loan requests with bogus letters of credit allegedly issued by banks in Kenya, Switzerland and the Cook Islands as collateral. The export never materialized, hence BNI lost the money.
- Two more dossiers on BNI scandal rejected
Thursday, April 01, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office is to return on Thursday the case files submitted by the police last week on Nurcahyo and Haris Is Hartono, two of 16 suspects in the Rp 1.7 trillion financial fraud involving Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), the Gramarindo Group and the Petindo Group.
Nurcahyo is former deputy of BNI Region X, while Haris is from PT Mahesa, a subsidiary of PT Gramarindo.
The assistant for special crimes at the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, Marwan Effendi, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that they would reject the two dossiers because they were incomplete.
"We are currently formulating several instructions to police concerning the missing information. We will return them (dossiers) to the police tomorrow," said Marwan.
Marwan said prosecutors had notified police regarding Nurcahyo's and Haris' case files and that they needed to be completed less than a week after their return.
According to Marwan, prosecutors must inform the police of an incomplete status of a dossier within the maximum 14-day review period after it is submitted.
As was the case with the dossier for Adrian Wowuruntu, a key suspect in the fraud, the dossiers on Nurcahyo and Haris did not provide strong enough evidence to support an indictment, and thus "failed to prove the involvement of the accused in committing the crime", said Marwan.
Article 183 of the Criminal Code states that police must present evidence that a criminal action actually took place and that the suspect in question was responsible for that action.
Marwan said the dossiers did not contain enough documents nor expert witnesses to support the charges.
Of the 10 dossiers that have been submitted on the fraud case, only four dossiers covering nine suspects have been approved by the prosecutor.
As of March 31, four of the six remaining dossiers -- on Haris, Nurcahyo, Adrian and Rudi -- were still awaiting the prosecutors' response, while the other two -- one on John Hamenda and the other on Jeffrey and Yudi Baso -- were deemed incomplete.
"We will be very careful in examining the four dossiers and make an optimum effort to finish them, because we don't want people to think negatively about us," said Marwan.
National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono said earlier that police were running forensic tests on several documents belonging to Jeffrey and Yudi Baso that could prove Adrian's involvement in the scandal.
"The examination is to determine the authenticity of the documents and whether the signatures on them really belong to the suspect (Adrian)," he added.
The legal detention period of the four suspects in custody of the National Police will expire soon; Nurcahyo, Rudi Sutopo (from PT Mahesa) and John Hamenda (owner of the Petindo Group), will be released in April, and Haris in May.
- Presidential candidates to get VVIP guards
Friday, April 02, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police will provide special security guards for presidential and vice presidential candidates and their families during the election campaign and on the election day.
The security force will be responsible for the safety of the country's potential leaders and their families at home, at the office and during travel.
Police have prepared no less than 709 personnel to carry out this special duty up until the election of the country's next president and vice president.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) is expected to announce the outcome of the presidential election of July 5 on July 26. In case no candidate achieves a simple majority, a run-off will be held on Sept. 20, with the result be announced on Oct. 12.
The VVIP protection for potential leaders is stipulated in Law No. 13/2003 on elections and Government Regulation No. 9/2004 on security for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Police personnel assigned to protect the candidates will undergo special training, starting on Thursday. The training will last for 10 days in different locations, depending on where the trainees originate from.
The first five days of training are meant to enhance their ability based on their respective area of specialization, such as medical treatment, security, communication, and electronic technology.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said the incumbent president and vice president remain under the protection of the President's Special Security Force.
It remains undecided how many police personnel will be deployed to protect a candidate.
"We will likely know the number after the KPU announces the names of presidential and vice presidential candidates," Soenarko said.
- Police up pressure on Ba'asyir case
Saturday, April 03, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police are intensifying their investigation into Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's suspected involvement in terrorist activities in the country.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Friday that police had gathered sufficient evidence and testimonies that could implicate the Muslim cleric in terrorist attacks across Indonesia.
"I am not so sure whether he can be said to be a suspect. I haven't received the report yet. But yes, we're heading in that direction (declaring Ba'asyir a suspect)," said Da'i on Friday.
Ba'asyir, who has been labeled a terrorist leader by neighboring countries Singapore, Australia and the United States, is currently serving an 18-month jail term for an immigration violation and document forgery. His release is due on April 29.
Da'i's statement came barely one month after the U.S. handed over the latest transcript of their interrogation of suspected terrorist Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, who has been detained under U.S. custody at an undisclosed place since his capture last August in Thailand.
The Indonesian-born Hambali is believed to be a leader in both regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
Indonesia has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks since December 2000, including the Bali bombings that killed over 202 people on Oct. 12, 2002 and the Aug. 5, 2003 JW Marriott Hotel attack that killed 14 people.
Key suspects in the Bali bombings, most of whom have been sentenced to either death or life, admitted to meeting Ba'asyir before the blasts, but fell short of implicating him.
Antiterrorism Director VI Brig. Gen. Pranowo at National Police Headquarters said the investigation into the cleric had been going on for some time.
"We have already run a number of checks on the cleric since the Bali bombing trials, but the evidence and facts we had gathered were not strong enough. We're now working on some new evidence," said Pranowo.
He said police would not use material from the U.S.' Hambali interrogation, as it had no legal validity as evidence under the Indonesian judiciary.
Instead, the police will use another source of information that was submittable to Indonesian courts, but he declined to elaborate.
Ba'asyir's lawyer, Mohammad Ali, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the police planned to question his client next Wednesday. He said four officers from police headquarters had come to Salemba Penitentiary on Thursday to ask permission to bring Ba'asyir to headquarters for questioning.
After discussing the matter with Mohammad, the interrogation was scheduled for March 7 at National Police Headquarters.
Mohammad said the police summons only mentioned that a dossier on the cleric needed to be drawn up in accordance with the Antiterrorism Law.
- Most regencies ready to hold elections:KPU
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Moch N Kurniawan and PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) said on Saturday most regencies across the country were ready to hold elections as scheduled on Monday.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said some delays in the distribution of ballot papers might occur in remote areas of Papua and Central Kalimantan.
"Ballot papers are expected to reach remote areas in those provinces on election day on Monday, but we will see how we are progressing in the distribution in those areas tomorrow (Sunday)," he said.
He said the remote areas in Papua where the ballots were expected to arrive on Monday included Mimika, Bovendigul and Puncak Jaya. He did not elaborate on the areas in Central Kalimantan.
"We will hold a briefing on Sunday to announce the final progress of the ballot paper distribution to all regencies," he said.
Trouble spot areas like Aceh, Maluku and North Maluku are also ready to hold the polls, he said.
A total of 147.4 million voters are eligible to vote in 440 regencies at 585,218 polling stations across the country.
Separately, a top home ministry official said the KPU would announce whether or not the elections would be delayed in some areas.
The official, Muhanto, said there were only a few regions that had yet to receive ballot papers and other election materials.
Batam, to the south of Singapore, the Southeast Sulawesi town of Kendari and the capital Jakarta all announced they had completed all the preparations for the polls.
"All the ballot papers have been distributed in Batam and I hope the supply is sufficient," said Agustar, a member of the local KPU.
The total number of ballot papers distributed in Batam surpasses the number of eligible voters in the province, 1,190,077.
In South Sulawesi, five regencies/municipalities are yet to receive ballot papers. They are Luwu, Mamasa, Barru, Bone and Makassar. Governor Amin Syam said he was optimistic the ballot papers would arrive at polling stations in the areas on Sunday.
Some polling stations in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang are also still waiting for ballot papers.
The head of the local KPU, Robinson Ratu Koreh, said the distribution of ballot papers to the East Flores regency was still underway.
In Jambi, only 90 percent of the ballot papers have arrived. But the head of the local KPU, Abdul Rasyid, is optimistic the polls there will not be delayed.
- Joint forces ready to secure first day of elections
Monday, April 05, 2004
PC Naommy and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Sunday that the police had finished deploying their forces to secure the general elections, including the safeguarding of the voting process, in which about 147 million voters will cast their ballots at about 557,600 polling stations throughout the archipelago.
In the meantime, Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) head M. Taufik disclosed that police had decided to double the number of officers securing each polling station in the city from two to four.
"The officers have already been to the polling stations and are ready to secure the general elections," Da'i told General Elections Commission (KPU) members during a visit to the KPU headquarters.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin received the police chief upon his visit.
Taufik said police had doubled the number of polling station personnel in anticipation of demonstrations by unregistered voters or registered ones who had not received their voter's cards and could not, therefore, exercise their constitutional right.
Da'i issued the statement a day after receiving reports from 30 provincial police chiefs during a teleconference on Saturday. The session was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs ad interim Hari Sabarno, and several other high-ranking officials.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said that security arrangements remained as planned beforehand, including backup from security units from forces under operational command (BKO). The command includes Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel.
There are at least 5,518 BKO personnel in strife-torn Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam and 1,002 in Maluku province.
In Central Sulawesi, especially Poso, the police headquarters has deployed around 100 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police in addition to the existing 800 BKO personnel.
"All the BKO units are under the coordination of the respective provincial police headquarters to maintain security in the provinces," said Soenarko.
The additional deployment in Poso came after a series of shooting incidents that resulted in the death of a clergyman and serious injury to an academic. The situation is already calm now.
Soenarko said that the police headquarters had also deployed its Brimob forces to several police stations in West Java, Jakarta and Banten provinces.
According to Soenarko, backup from the police headquarters was needed to fill the gaps in the regular provincial police forces caused by deployments of personnel to critical points and polling stations.
The police headquarters has sent 1,000 Brimob personnel to Jakarta, 900 to West Java and 300 to Banten.
Soenarko stated that a specific approach had been adopted in order to ensure security at polling stations.
Four polling stations will be guarded by a police officer assisted by eight security guards. For areas defined as having danger level 1 status, an officer plus six security guards will handle three polling stations. For areas at danger level 2, two polling stations will be guarded by a police officer and four security guards.
Meanwhile, Soenarko disclosed that a team carrying ballot papers was attacked by a group of unidentified people in Bogondini, Merauke, Papua.
Some team members, including officials from the local branch of the KPU and the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), were injured.
Soenarko added that a policeman went missing after a boat safeguarding the distribution of ballot papers in Papua ran into difficulties in stormy waters.
- Files on one BNI suspect accepted, rest rejected: Police
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police's role in handling the BNI scam would appear to be wanting after the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office accepted on Tuesday the case file on one of the suspects in the scam, but rejected the files of another three suspects due to lack of evidence.
Marwan Effendi, the assistant for special crimes to the chief of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, told The Jakarta Post that his office had accepted the file on John Hamenda as the police had managed to link him with another suspect, Edy Santosa, formerly BNI's foreign customer division head.
It is now up to the court to set a date for Hameda's trial.
Marwan said Hamenda, a director of PT Petindo, a subsidiary of the Gramarindo Group, would be charged under Law No. 31/1999 on corruption and Law No. 15/2002 on money laundering.
However, Marwan said the files on Rudi Sutopo, Haris Is Hartono and Nurcahyo had been rejected by the prosecutors as, in the opinion of the prosecutors, they were not backed up by convincing evidence
Nurcahyo is a former deputy head of BNI's Region X, while Haris Is Hartono and Rudi Sutopo worked for PT Mahesa, another subsidiary of the Gramarindo Group.
"All the same old reasons. The files don't contain enough evidence to charge the suspects and bring them to court," said Marwan.
National Police Deputy Spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said the police would deliver both Hamenda and his file to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office next Tuesday.
Soenarko added that the police were still await the results of a laboratory examination on a number of documents belonging to Jeffrey Baso and Yudi Baso.
Meanwhile, the police will have to spend more time working on the file on Adrian Woworuntu after it failed to meet the prosecutors' standards for the third time.
"The important thing is that the police keep on trying to complete the files that have been returned to them by the prosecutors," said Soenarko, without elaborating on the file's defects.
Andi Hamzah, an expert witness in Adrian's case, previously said there was convincing evidence to show that Adrian had received a number of money transfers from Maria Lumowa, the main suspect in the case, who is still at large.
According to Marwan, the police had forgotten to provide the account statements proving that the transfers had indeed been sent by Maria to Adrian.
According to Andi, there was evidence that Adrian received a several money transfers from Maria into his private account.
Adrian is the co-owner of Gramarindo, a business group that reportedly received Rp 1.7 trillion (US$200 million) from publicly listed BNI in the form of 41 bogus letters of credit issued by some foreign banks.
Edy Santoso and Koesadiyuwono, former head of the BNI Kebayoran Baru branch, will be the first of 16 suspects in the scam to go on trial in the South Jakarta District Court later this week.
Eight suspects are still on the waiting list and further action against six others will be taken after the police complete their files.
- Terrorists' testimonies to be used to quiz Ba'asyir
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
PC Naommy and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surakarta
Testimonies by suspected terrorists now detained in neighboring countries will be used to investigate elderly cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's involvement in terrorist activities, an officer says.
"Police already have several testimonies from witnesses in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore on the cleric's involvement (in terrorist activities)," National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono said on Tuesday.
According to Suyitno, the witnesses mentioned the involvement of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) chairman in terrorist activities.
He revealed neither the names of the witnesses nor terrorist activities Ba'asyir was implicated in.
Ba'asyir, who is currently serving a one-and-a-half year jail term for immigration violations and document forgery, was scheduled to be questioned on Wednesday (today), but Suyitno said on Tuesday that no date had been officially set for the questioning.
He did say, however, that the police already had permission from the Directorate of Penitentiaries to take Ba'asyir to the National Police Headquarters for questioning.
Ba'asyir's lawyer, Mohammad Ali, said earlier that police had sent a letter to the Salemba penitentiary to say that they needed the Muslim cleric for questioning under Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism.
Another lawyer, Mohammad Assegaff, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that Ba'asyir would not attend the planned interrogation as the police had not officially issued a summons letter to the cleric.
"The letter is important so that the Uztad can prepare his defense," said Assegaff.
He said the fact the planned questioning came after the United States had handed over 125 transcripts of their investigation into suspected terrorist Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, proved that the world's only superpower has compelled Indonesia to press charges against Ba'asyir.
"The U.S intervention in this case is an insult to Indonesian legal sovereignty and the Supreme Court," he said.
Ba'asyir, who was elected MMI chairman at its first congress in 2000, has been accused of being the leader of regional terrorist group Jamaah Islamyiah (JI), which police investigators blamed as being behind a series of terrorist attacks across the country since 2000, including the Bali bombings, which killed over 200 people and the Marriott Hotel attack, which killed at least 14 people.
Meanwhile, at least 183 students from the Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Surakarta left for Jakarta on Tuesday to accompany Ba'asyir.
"The police have arbitrarily treated and slandered Abu by saying that he may be involved in the Bali bombing," said activist Umar Kasim.
In their media statement, the students demanded that President Megawati Soekarnoputri dismiss National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar for bowing to U.S. pressure by sending Ba'asyir to jail.
The students also alleged that members of the Islam Defenders Front in Jakarta would participate in protests against the questioning of Ba'asyir.
- Questioning of Ba'asyir still undecided
Thursday, April 08, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have yet to set a date for questioning cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir over his suspected involvement in terrorist activities.
"We haven't set any date for questioning Ba'asyir. It is not true that we had scheduled the cleric's questioning for Wednesday as reported in the media," deputy police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said on Wednesday.
He, however, admitted that the police had sent a letter to the Directorate of Penitentiaries asking for permission to take Ba'asyir out of the Salemba Penitentiary for questioning.
According to Soenarko, police are currently gathering additional evidence to build a strong case against Ba'asyir.
"In this case, police are not focusing their investigation on just one person and we are not being intimidated by anyone, including the U.S.," Soenarko said.
The coordinator for Ba'asyir's defense team, Mohammad Assegaff, alleged that police were just scrambling to seek vague grounds to question Ba'asyir. He said that the United States had pressured Indonesia to question Ba'asyir.
Assegaff told The Jakarta Post that police had not followed up their plan to question the cleric.
"Our suspicion is that police actually do not have a strong basis to question Uztad Abu, and this has become clearer, as up until now they have not determined the status of Ba'asyir," he said.
Assegaff said the police would have to make clear which terrorist attacks was Ba'asyir implicated in if they wanted to charge the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) chairman under Law No. 15, 2003 on terrorism.
Police said on Tuesday that they would use the testimonies of suspected terrorists now detained in the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia to investigate Ba'asyir's involvement in terrorist activities.
Assegaff reiterated that the Supreme Court had quashed in early March a charge that Ba'asyir was the leader of regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in the country, including the deadly Bali bombing on Oct. 12, 2002.
Also on Wednesday, about one hundred Muslim activists, calling themselves the Surakarta Muslim Society, protested in front of the National Police Headquarters.
The group, led by Mudzakir, called for the dismissal of National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar for bowing to pressure from the United Sates.
He said that the police had treated Ba'asyir arbitrarily and defamed him by saying that he may have been involved in several bombing cases in the country. He said that the Supreme Court had only found him guilty of immigration violation and ID card forgery.
Mudzakir, along with 24 other members of the group, was allowed to convey his message to National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ba'asyir Barmawi.
After the meeting, Mudzakir complained that police gave standard answers to their demands.
"They are so good at playing with words. They say they don't plan to interrogate him, only to ask for an explanation," he said.
From the National Police headquarters, the protesters went to visit Ba'asyir at Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta.
- Exhibitions to be held to boost tourism
Monday, April 12, 2004
Leony Aurora and PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Office of the State Minister for Culture and Tourism plans to hold at least one national exhibition and several regional events to boost domestic tourism in 2004.
Marketing deputy director Udin Saefuddin, announced recently that a national exhibition would be held in Jakarta from May 20 to May 23.
At the event, which is expected to attract 100,000 visitors, information on tourist attractions in provinces across the country would be presented. Participants would include regional governments, handicraft entrepreneurs, and tourism and travel agencies.
The plan follows the government's decision in 2002 to shift national holidays to either Friday or Monday so as to allow for long weekends.
The government has allocated Rp 500 million (US$58,800) to cover the cost of the four-day national tourism expo, to be held at the Semanggi Expo Building in Central Jakarta.
The tourism and culture office has allocated Rp 11 billion ($1.3 million) to promote tourism across the archipelago, higher than last year's budget of Rp 5 billion. These funds exclude Rp 79 billion to be spent on Indonesia's participation in 42 international events throughout the year, said Saefuddin.
He admitted, however, that the country's tourism promotion budget remained far lower than the amounts spent by ASEAN neighbors Malaysia and Singapore, which allocated $100 million and $60 million respectively on tourism promotion.
An assistant to the deputy minister for domestic tourism promotion, Titin Soekarya, said regional exhibitions would also be held to inform the public about the diversity of tourism attractions here.
"In May, we will launch the Borneo Extravaganza," she said. This exhibition would focus on the tourism potential in Kalimantan and sell it to the Jakarta market, she added.
At the end of the year, a similar expo would be held in Sulawesi.
Since last year, the tourism office has also been conducting a program called "campus travel". Under this program, two students from each participating university visit tourism sites in a number of provinces.
These students are then expected to motivate their fellow students to travel, said Titin.
Some 60 students joined the tour to Jakarta and West Java as part of last year's program.
"This year, we will visit Yogyakarta and Jakarta," she said. Another 60 students would be invited on the trip planned to take place in mid year, she added.
Titin said a network of students from different universities in the country could also be developed and students could act as guides for visiting fellow students.
Further efforts to boost domestic tourism would be conducted through advertisements in the media, said Titin.
Her office would develop people's interest in traveling by making films on tourism areas to be shown on television and in schools.
- Police arrest illegal loggers, rescue $3.7m in state assets
Monday, April 12, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Sukabumi, West Java
Police have arrested a total of 38 suspected illegal loggers, including 5 Malaysians, in West Kalimantan, and seized 20,548 cubic meters of processed logs during an operation conducted from Feb. 19 to March 10.
Chief of the Wanalaga I Operation Brig. Gen. Indarto said on Saturday that police also confiscated 22,886 raw logs, several boats and guns from the loggers.
The operation, which is the first phase of the Wanalaga Operation for this year, included raids on several locations, mostly in Mount Palung National Park in West Kalimantan and on the border with Malaysia.
"There are many water catchment areas around the national park and they're heavily used by local citizens. We've focused the operation there to prevent floods or landslides which can happen due to the land's limited capacity in absorbing water," said Indarto.
Based on calculations by the Ministry of Forestry, he said, the seized logs were worth Rp 32 billion (US$3.76 million).
The team -- comprising the National Police, the West Kalimantan Police and forest rangers -- was located on three main areas in the 92,000-hectare national park.
"The cases would be submitted to the West Kalimantan Police, but the National Police will supervise their progress to make sure they go into court," said Indarto.
He explained that there were 10 other Malaysians who are still at large, but "the police already have their identities."
Indarto said that the loggers were being detained in the West Kalimantan Police headquarters. However, the arrested Malaysians are being detained for immigration violations.
"But it doesn't rule out the possibility that they're also involved in illegal logging. We also suspect that the logs were to be smuggled into Malaysia," he quickly added.
Indonesia and Malaysia have been shifting blame for the logs allegedly smuggled into Malaysia. Indonesia has been pressing Malaysia to take firm action against the traders of illegal logs there.
Concerning rife accusations that police officers were taking part in illegal logging, Indarto said that the police had not found any evidence of such involvement.
Illegal logging has been completely out of control in the country, accounting for deforestation of 3.8 million hectares per year, roughly the size of Switzerland.
Illegal logging, which has been largely blamed for natural disasters, cost the country some Rp 355.8 billion in 2002 and 2003. It also contributes to the rapid deforestation rate.
The government is currently preparing a regulation in lieu of law to combat the crime. The regulation is said to provide harsher punishment of up to death sentence for those found guilty of involvement in illegal logging and log trading.
A source at the Ministry of Forestry said the regulation would be issued this week.
- Two of 16 suspects in high-profile BNI scandal tried
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
M. Taufiqurrahman and PC 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.
- Police slap travel bans on officials of closed banks
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police have set up a team to investigate a fraud case involving Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Bank Asiatic and issued travel bans for some of the banks' owners and top executives following a report filed by Bank Indonesia (BI) last Thursday.
The central bank revoked the operation permits of the two banks on April 8 due to extreme liquidity problems at the banks, which were allegedly triggered by fraudulent transactions involving Rp 1.2 trillion (US$139) in loans.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar had signed travel bans for 11 officials of the two closed banks, national chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono announced on Tuesday.
Spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D.A. said the travel bans imposed by the police were to facilitate the investigation.
"None of the 11 bank executives have been named as suspects yet because the team is currently studying all files and documents submitted by BI," Soenarko said. He said the police would summon the 11 as soon as they had finished studying the case.
According to Soenarko, of the 11 high ranking bank executives, six are from Asiatic, the remainder from BDB.
However, Antara, reported the immigration office at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport had received instructions to impose travel bans on 13 bank executives.
Included among the 13 names were I Gusti Made Oka (BDB's owner and former president director); I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana (former president commissioner of BDB); I Nengah Suwardana (former head of BDB's branch in Jakarta); Tong Muk Keung (majority share holder, Asiatic); SB Surendra (former director, Asiatic); Won Tommy Sentana (former marketing director, Asiatic); Ignatius Eddy Candra (former credit director, Asiatic); and Made Budiana (former Asiatic funds and marketing director).
Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution said earlier the problems at the banks centered on alleged lending frauds and lending limit violations involving affiliated companies, some of which were fictitious.
The problem came after BDB placed funds at Asiatic in the form of interbank loans and Negotiable Certificates of Deposit (NCD). These were later used by a BDB owner married to a daughter of an Asiatic owner.
Anwar said the amount of the loans, worth Rp 1.2 trillion or 70 percent of the bank's assets of Rp 1.7 trillion, exceeded the legal lending limit allowed by banking law.
The law says a bank is allowed to lend a sum worth up to 10 percent of its assets to an affiliated company.
The Denpasar-based BDB has 408,000 depositors, while the Jakarta-based Asiatic has 2,200 depositors.
Director-General of Financial Institutions Darmin Nasution said the government would pay the depositors of the closed banks within two weeks.
- Police say they have sufficient grounds to indict 9 bankers
Friday, April 16, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police claim they have sufficient evidence to indict nine executives of the now defunct Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Bank Asiatic for fraud involving Rp 1.2 trillion (US$139).
"We have strong evidence of the role of those nine people in this case," National Police Deputy Spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko D. Ardanto said on Thursday.
Suspicion of the involvement of the banks' high ranking officials surfaced after police studied files and documents submitted by Bank Indonesia and after a technical meeting with a team from BI, the Attorney General's Office and a team from Bali Police on Wednesday.
The police have asked the deputy attorney general for political affairs to impose a travel ban on the nine bankers. A travel ban can be issued only for people who have been declared suspects.
Of the nine executives of the defunct banks, five are from Asiatic: Tong Muk Keung (majority share holder), FB Surendro (former president director), Won Tommy Sentana (former marketing director), Ignatius Eddy Candra (former credit director) and Made Budiana (former fund marketing director).
The executives from BDB are I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana (former chief commissioner),I Gusti Made Oka (the majority share holder), Gede Wibawa (former treasury official), and I Nengah Suwardhana (former Jakarta branch head).
Soenarko said the investigating team was currently preparing all necessary measures before summoning the officials for questioning.
According to the central bank, the alleged irregularities center on a number of lending frauds and legal lending limit violations involving affiliated companies which turned out to be fictitious.
The problem came to light after BDB placed funds at Asiatic in the form of interbank loans and Negotiable Certificates of Deposit (NCD), which were later on used as loan collateral by the son of BDB's owner, who is married to a daughter of the Asiatic's owner.
The amount of loans provided to the son of BDB's owner exceeded the legal lending limit allowed under the banking law. The loans accounted for 70 percent of Asiatic's total assets of Rp 1.7 trillion.
Existing banking regulations stipulate that a bank is allowed only to lend a maximum of 10 percent of its lending exposure to an affiliated company.
BDB is a Bali-based lender with 31 branches, 632 employees and 408,000 depositors. The Jakarta-based Asiatic bank employed around 150 staff and had 2,200 depositors.
- JP/4/Bank
Saturday, April 17, 2004
PC Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
All nine shareholders, commissioners and directors of recently closed Bank Dagang Bali and Bank Asiatic have reportedly fled their respective residences, prompting the police to put them on a wanted list.
National Police chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung Soedjono, said on Friday the police were attempting to determine the whereabouts of the bank officials, who are suspects in the two banks' failure.
Put on the police's wanted list are five officials from Bank Asiatic -- Tong Muk Keung (the majority shareholder), FB Surendro (former president director), Won Tommy Sentana (former marketing director), Ignatius Eddy Candra (former credit director) and Made Budiana (former fund marketing director).
From Bank Dagang Bali are I Gusti Ngurah Oka Budiana (former president commissioner), I Gusti Made Oka (the majority shareholder), Gede Wibawa (former treasury official) and I Nengah Suwardhana (former head of the Jakarta branch).
Suyitno said police were unsure if the suspects were still in Indonesia or had fled the country.
"We imposed travel bans on the nine bank officials on April 8, but when we checked on them at their addresses, we found that they were not living there anymore," said Suyitno.
"If it is true that they have already fled the country then we will coordinate with Interpol," he said.
Bank Indonesia closed down Bank Dagang Bali (BDB) and Bank Asiatic on April 8 and slapped travel banks on the shareholders, commissioners and directors.
According to Suyitno, police began tracing the whereabouts of the nine officials last Thursday.
Police earlier said they had sufficient evidence to indict the nine officials for fraudulent banking transactions.
The case against the nine bank officials reportedly became stronger after police studied several documents and files submitted by Bank Indonesia on April 8 and after a coordination meeting last Wednesday with the central bank, which was also attended by a team from the Attorney General's Office and officers from the Bali Police.
According to Bank Indonesia, the case centers on a number of allegedly fraudulent loans and legal lending limit infractions by the two banks, which were owned by two families connected by marriage.
The BDB placed funds in Asiatic in the form of interbank loans and Negotiable Certificates of Deposit. The funds were later used as collateral for loans to the son of BDB's majority stakeholder, I Gusti Made Oka, who is married to the daughter of Bank Asiatic's former owner, Tong Muk Keung.
The amount of the loans provided to I Gusti Made Oka's son reportedly exceeded the legal lending limit allowed by banking law. The loans accounted for 70 percent of Asiatic's total assets of Rp 1.7 trillion.
Existing banking regulations requires that a bank lend a maximum of only 10 percent of its lending exposure to an affiliated company.
The Denpasar-based BDB currently has 408,000 depositors, while the Jakarta-based Asiatic has 2,200 depositors. The government must provide some Rp 2.39 trillion (US$281 million) to cover the money of the two banks' depositors as part of its blanket guarantee program.