3 Bank Mandiri Employees Arrested for Fraud

Jakarta Globe, Farouk Arnaz, October 23, 2013

A branch of Mandiri Syariah, the bank’s Shariah compliant finance unit.
 (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

The National Police have arrested three officials in the Shariah compliant finance unit of Bank Mandiri and named them suspects in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 59 billion ($5.2 million) from the bank.

“The three suspects are M.A., H.H. and J.L.,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Franky F. Sompie said on Wednesday.

M.A. has been identified as the head of the Shariah division’s main branch in Bogor, H. H. as the head of a smaller branch, also in Bogor, and J. L. an account officer who likely worked with J.L.

Police made the arrests on Tuesday night. They seized a total of eight cars from the suspects, including two Mercedes-Benz sedans, two SUVs (a Hummer and a Toyota Fortuner) and a Toyota Alphard van.

The suspects allegedly embezzled the RP 59 billion from Rp 102 billion in loans distributed among 197 clients — none of whom actually existed, police have determined. Police have not yet said what became of the rest of the money.

Franky said police would charge the suspects with bank fraud and money laundering — charges that could carry 15 and 20 year prison terms, respectively.