Oyos Saroso H.N.
Bandarlampung
Clients and investors of Bank Tripanca in Lampung, most of them coffee and pepper suppliers, rallied on Thursday to protest the local police's decision to turn bank owner and alleged fraudster, Sugiharto "Alay" Wiharjo, over to the National Police.
The protesters said the reassignment would make it difficult for them to recover their funds deposited in the bank.
Lina, 38, an investor who lost Rp 1 billion (US$90,000) after the bank collapsed, said the Lampung Police had no valid reasons to pass the case on to the National Police, based in Jakarta.
"The incident occurred in Lampung. Can't the Lampung Police handle the case? I suspected from the beginning the police were protecting Alay," she said.
Another protester, a coffee bean supplier, claimed thousands of tons of the commodity were being held in Alay's warehouses that were repossessed by another bank, thus denying the suppliers access to their coffee bean stocks.
Lina said major clients and investors had met several times with officials from Bank Indonesia's Lampung office and the Bank Tripanca management, mediated by the Bandarlampung Police and Tanjungkarang District Court, but had not reached an agreement over the repayment of clients' funds.
"The meetings were fruitless because of Alay's absence. If Alay wanted to talk, even by phone, the problem would likely be resolved. It was hard to reach him earlier because he was on the run, and now after he's been arrested, the police have instead sent him to Jakarta," said another unidentified coffee supplier, adding he only wanted to recover his coffee stock because farmers were demanding their dues.
Police arrested Alay at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on the night of Dec. 28. He and six of his employees, believed to be involved in the banking scam, were then taken to the National Police Headquarters in Jakarta for questioning on Dec. 30.
Lampung Police chief Brig. Gen. Ferial Manaf, who led the investigation, said the police considered the Bank Tripanca scam a special case that required the National Police's attention.
"This is a high-profile case on a national scale. After coordinating with the National Police, we decided the case needed special handling by detectives at the headquarters," Ferial said, adding case files and evidence had also been sent to Jakarta.
Police are also awaiting an audit by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) on regional budget funds deposited at the bank.
"The BPKP will announce soon the outcome of the audit. Based on our investigations, there are indications of corruption in the budget fund deposits at Bank Tripanca," Ferial said.
Alay is a suspect in an embezzlement case in which he was allegedly involved in fraud and issuing fictitious credits worth Rp 378 billion.
Ferial said police were currently focusing on the budget funds deposited at the bank by several regency administrations in Lampung. The administrations, apart from Central Lampung and East Lampung, are believed to have deposited the money in the bank to get kickbacks and high interest rates of up to 20 percent per annum.
A 2004 law on regional administrations prohibits the depositing of budget funds in private or nongovernment banks.
"We've found indications of corruption and clear motives of violating the law," Ferial said.
Source: The Jakarta Post, Sat, Jan 03 2009
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