Bank Indonesia Bailout Scandal Fugitive Arrested in US

Jakarta Globe, Rangga Prakoso,  June 08, 2012

Sherny Kojongian, a fugitive in the high-profile Bank Indonesia
 bailout (or BLBI) case, was arrested in San Fransisco, Calif.
after a decade on the run, the Indonesian police said
in Jakarta on Friday. (Photo from kejaksaan.go.id)

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A fugitive in the high-profile Bank Indonesia bailout case has been arrested in San Fransisco, Calif. after a decade on the run, the Indonesian police said in Jakarta on Friday.

It is not clear yet when the arrest was made, but Sherny Kojongian, 49, a former director with Bank Harapan Sentosa (BHS), is expected to arrive in Jakarta on June 13.

“She will be deported from San Fransisco on June 11. [When she arrives] she will be immediately escorted to the Attorney General’s Office,” Indonesia’s National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said in Jakarta on Friday.

Boy said Sherny’s arrest was coordinated with Interpol, which issued a warrant for Sherny in 2002. 

Sherny fled Indonesia before she was sentenced by the Central Jakarta District Court to 20 years in prison for embezzling state money via the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) bailout funds. Sherny was convicted of disbursing money to six business groups and 28 fake financing firms between 1992 and 1996. 

The court sentenced BHS commissioners Hendra Rahardja and Eko Edi Putranto to life in prison over the same case, which is believed to have cost the state some Rp 1.95 trillion ($209 million). The central bank ordered BHS to cease disbursement of the overdraft loans to the 28 firms in Sep. 1997 — an order which Sherny and the two other convicts ignored.    

According to results of audits performed by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Rp 138.4 trillion, or 96 percent of Rp 144.5 trillion in BLBI bailout funds disbursed to 48 banks during the peak of the 1997 Asian financial crisis were embezzled.

BeritaSatu/JG.