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Central Lampung sues bank boss
The Central Lampung regency administration has filed a lawsuit against Bank Tripanca owner Sugiharto "Alay" Wiharjo over an under-the-table deal that went awry
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The Central Lampung regency administration has filed a lawsuit against Bank Tripanca owner Sugiharto "Alay" Wiharjo over an under-the-table deal that went awry.
The administration, as well as some of the bank's other clients, did not receive the promised, extremely high, levels of return on their legitimate investments.
Alay said the regency owed the bank Rp 20.5 billion (US$1.8 million) but the regency claims that it earlier deposited Rp 28 billion in budget funds with the bank.
The regency administration has filed a Rp 138 billion lawsuit against the bank -- Rp 28 billion for the cash deposits, Rp 10 billion for three years of interest and Rp 100 billion for immaterial loss.
"We have attended meetings with Bank Tripanca management facilitated by the Tanjungkarang District Court and Bandarlampung city police, but they were always fruitless, so we decided to file a lawsuit with the court. The Central Lampung regency administration will make strenuous efforts to recover the public funds," Gunawan Raka, a legal adviser representing the regency, said.
According to Raka, every transaction between the regency administration and the bank was carried out between the head of the financial division and Alay.
"Central Lampung had deposited its money at Bank Tripanca because the bank offered high interest rates of up to 18 percent," Raka said.
Alay's lawyer, T.H. Hutabarat, said that, based on Alay's statement, the Central Lampung administration instead owed the bank Rp 20.5 billion.
"Alay told me this when we met at his detention room at the National Police Headquarters a few days ago. The debts are in the form of cash and assets including houses and land," Hutabarat said.
"That's why we deem the lawsuit implausible. Even if it is true that the regency has savings amounting to Rp 28 billion with the bank, it would be absurd for it to demand Rp 138 billion," he added.
A source once close to Alay said Alay routinely carried out under-the-table deals, not only with regency officials. A number of state officials, politicians, businessmen and even police officers are believed to be embroiled in the Bank Tripanca case because of such deals.
According to the source, who wished to remain anonymous, most of the clients lured into investing in bank shares were Chinese-Indonesian businessmen.
"But most of them were unaware until the case came to the fore," he said.
Alay also used the services of women to woo clients, said the source.
Lampung Police Chief Brig. Gen. Ferial Manaf said he would continue to investigate the case and would question witnesses at a number of regency administrations in Lampung, even though the case, involving Alay and six other suspects, had been reassigned to the National Police.
"We will work together with the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) to ascertain how much the state has incurred in losses due to deposits of regency budget funds at the bank," Ferial said.
Coordinator of the Anti Corruption Committee Yulden Erwin urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to immediately investigate the Bank Tripanca budget graft scam across regencies and mayoralties in Lampung.
"The amount of loss incurred by the state and bank clients is likely higher than most people estimate. So far, reports have said that Alay had accumulated Rp 5 trillion. The sum might be higher because nearly all regencies and municipal administrations in Lampung deposited their funds with the bank," Yulden said.
According to him, the motive for depositing budget funds with the bank is very clear -- to take advantage of the 18 to 25 percent interest rates in order to append regional revenue.
"But behind that, there are certainly other deals between regents and Alay. I received information that the regency administrations could take the interest up front. If it goes into the pockets of officials, it means gratification, which is categorized as corruption," Yulden said.
