Bandarlampung
Tripanca Group owner Sugiarto Wiharjo has denied the recently arrested businesswoman Artalita Suryani was ever a partner in, or connected to, any of his businesses, including the Tripanca Bank.
Responding to The Jakarta Post's Friday article on Artalita, Sugiarto said the businesswoman had been a close friend, but never a business partner.
"There is no proof that she has any link to Tripanca Group," Sugiarto said Friday.
The Post's article included quotes that said Artalita had shares in both Bank Tripanca and its bottled water business.
Sugiarto said he feared the report could harm his business as the group had wide networks overseas.
Artalita was arrested late last month on charges of bribing a senior prosecutor from the Attorney General's Office.
The prosecutor, Urip Tri Gunawan, and Artalita said the US$660,000 in question was a loan for Urip's jewelry business.
The pair said it had nothing to do with a case involving the former owner of Bank Dagang Negara, now boss of PT Gadjah Tunggal, Sjamsul Nursalim.
Artalita is reportedly close to Sjamsul who was once investigated for embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support funds.
Sugiarto showed three notary acts for the group's three companies -- Bank Tripanca, PT Tripanca Groups and PT Prabutirta Jaya Lestari, a bottled water firm.
The documents did not show Artalita's name among the shareholders.
"We are friends, she used to sing at my Tripanca (karaoke) Lounge in Bandarlampung," he said.
"She has a good karaoke place, the Milenium, but she often came to my place."
He also acknowledged Artalita's wide networks in Lampung province and said in the past she had asked him to channel her money, through his bank, to aspiring politicians applying for loans to run in regional elections.
"Because I have a bank, through that bank, I gave the money to the person in question," he said, but declined to provide details.
"That's her only connection to the bank," he said.
The Jakarta Post, Sat, Marc 15, 2008
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