Former Bank Century official Arga Tirta Kirana pleaded innocent on Thursday to charges of falsifying documents to help several companies steal from the bank, saying she was being made a scapegoat in the case.
Her statement was made amid an outpouring of public sympathy, primarily online, by people touched by her daughter’s blog posts that bemoaned that her mother was being treated unfairly.
“I did not benefit from what I did. It was not my responsibility. I was framed. May God tell the truth,” Arga said, crying as she read the statement at Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday.
Arga’s trial session had an unusual amount of reporters in attendance thanks to Arga’s daughter, 19-year-old Alanda Kariza. “As far as I can remember, this is the first time the media has covered a hearing. I am indeed surprised,” Arga’s husband Firman Maulana said, as quoted by kompas.com.
Alanda recently took to the Internet to express her dismay at the 10-year prison sentence and Rp 10 billion (US$1.12 million) asked for by prosecutors for mother. Alanda wrote that the prosecution’s sentencing request was too harsh when compared with the sentencing requests for other suspects in the case.
Arga is charged with forging bank documents used by a trading company to acquire a US$22.5 million loan from Bank Century, among other things. After the scandal, Bank Century was rebranded Bank Mutiara.
The trading company’s owner, Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Muhammad Misbakhun, is serving a one-year sentence for his role in the case. Prosecutors initially asked that Misbakhun be sentenced to eight years in prison.
Arga, who was the head of Bank Century’s legal corporate division at the time, claimed she had nothing to do with the disbursement of credit to Misbakhun’s company.
“Hermanus and Robert are the ones most responsible. Why has [the prosecution] asked for a harsher sentence for me than those two? Who has their hands in this case?” she said.
Arga was referring to Bank Century’s previous owner Robert Tantular and the bank’s former director Hermanus Hasan Muslim.
In May of 2010, the Supreme Court sentenced Robert to nine years in prison and Rp 100 billion in fines. In August of 2010, the same court sentenced Hermanus to six years in jail and Rp 50 billion in fines.
Attorney General’s Office (AGO) spokesperson Nur Rochmat said that Arga’s sentence request was appropriate considering the evidence presented at her trial. “We care about the role of each individual, not their position. It was revealed that the defendant made a different mistake than her boss did,” Nur said, adding that a defendant could go to prison for document forgery for up to 15 years.
— JP/Bagus BT Saragih
