Expired travel bans feared to allow more bad debtors to flee

Abdul Khalik , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 07/14/2008 10:08 AM | Headlines

More bad debtors involved in a massive bank loan scandal may have fled Indonesia upon the expiration of their travel bans, the immigration office said Sunday.

"We received no requests for extending their travel bans. Some of them probably left the country as we could not do anything to stop them," immigration office director of investigation Syaiful Rahman said.

He said at least nine of the 15 debtors had their travel bans expired months and even years ago but the Attorney General's Office (AGO) failed to extend them.

Last week, the AGO was embarrassed over media reports that BLBI convict David Nusa Wijaya, who was freed on parole, managed to get to Hong Kong.

Although the AGO vowed to bring back David, who was sentenced to eight years for embezzlement of Rp 1.3 trillion in a bank loan case, Indonesian officials in Hong Kong were forced to release him as he had secured the appropriate travel documents.

Two other bad debtors, Sjamsul Nursalim and Anthony Salim, fled the country far before their cases were dropped by the AGO in February.

The government has branded 15 debtors as "non-cooperative" for failing to repay billions of dollars they owe to the state under the Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) scheme.

They had been banned from traveling abroad to prevent them from escaping justice.

Among the bad debtors with expired travel bans were former Modern Bank owner Samadikun Hartono and Bank Namura owner Baringin MH Panggabean, who owe the state some Rp 2 trillion and Rp 150 billion of BLBI funds respectively.

The travel ban on Samadikun expired on June 13, 2008, and on Baringin, Feb. 13, 2003. The AGO is handling BLBI cases against the two businessmen.

Another bad debtor whose travel ban expired in October 2006 was I Gde Darmawan with a debt totaling some Rp 650 billion. Police are gathering evidence to charge Darmawan in his BLBI case.

Five other businesspeople implicated in BLBI graft cases were Aspac Bank owners Setiawan and Hendrawan Harjono, Deka Bank owners Dewanto and Royanto Kurniawan and Bank Umum Nasional owner Kaharudin Ongko. All their travel bans had also expired.

The bans on Royanto, Dewanto and Kaharudin expired in 2005 while those for Setiawan and Hendrawan ended last year.

The 1992 Immigration Law authorizes the justice minister, military chief, finance minister and attorney general to request the Supreme Court issue a travel ban on suspects. The court's decision must then be submitted to the immigration office to make it effective.

However, the AGO was apparently baffled when confronted with the question of why it did not seek travel ban extensions for the debtors.

"Is that so? Wait, wait... I must check it first," AGO spokesman BD Nainggolan said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been trying to recover billions in state money stolen by BLBI debtors. During the 1997-1999 East Asian economic crisis, the government dispensed Rp 640.9 trillion to save the banking system from collapse.

The money included some Rp 144.5 trillion in BLBI funds, which was disbursed to 48 banks to keep them afloat in the wake of a massive withdrawal of foreign capital from the country. However, many debtors abused the liquidity support and embezzled the funds.

The government must pay some Rp 60 trillion each year in interest on the funds, which were covered by foreign and domestic borrowing.

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