[Kabar-indonesia] Dicky Gets 20 Years for BNI Scam [+Is KPK Bugging DPR's Phones?]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: JP: Legislators bugged by graft body's wiretapping 

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Repeat offender Dicky gets 20 years in prison 

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After 10 years of living on the outside, former banker and graft convict 
Dicky Iskandar Di Nata faces a second prison lag after a court here sentenced him 
Tuesday to 20 years for his role in a Rp 1.9 trillion (US$203 million) lending 
scam.

The South Jakarta District Court found Dicky, 55, guilty of involvement in 
the scam involving numerous fictitious letters of credit presented at state Bank 
BNI in 2003. 

"The court finds the defendant guilty of causing losses to the state 
collaboratively with other criminals and doing it repeatedly," presiding judge Efran 
Basuning told 
the court. 

In 1991, when Dicky was the director of Duta Bank, he was convicted for his 
role in a fraudulent currency speculation ring that cost the bank Rp 800 
billion in losses, costing him a six-year jail term. 

After the latest sentence was read out, prosecutor Sahat Sihombing said the 
20-year term for Dicky was too lenient and promised to appeal the verdict. 

Prosecutors had demanded the death sentence for Dicky because of his repeat 
offending and the sum of money involved. 

The court, however, earlier ruled out capital punishment because prosecutors 
did not mention it in their indictment. 

Dicky is the first graft suspect prosecutors have demanded the death penalty 
for under the anticorruption law. 

The panel of judges said that in 2003, Dicky collaborated with his business 
partners -- Marie Pauline Lumowa and Adrian Waworuntu -- to distribute money 
obtained through scamming officials at the BNI Kebayoran Baru branch in South 
Jakarta by presenting a number of fictitious letters of credit. 

Adrian was sentenced last month to life imprisonment for the crime, while 
Marie, who now holds Dutch citizenship, remains at large and is believed to be 
living in Singapore. 

Efran said Marie had bought 70 percent of Dicky's company, PT Brocolin 
International, so they could carry out their scam quickly because establishing a new 
company would have taken three months of administrative processing. 

"The company (Brocolin) was established to receive money transferred from 
numerous companies that Marie already owned, and to extend transfers of the funds 
to several other bank accounts," Efran said. 

With the money, Dicky bought six plantations auctioned by the Indonesian 
Banking Restructuring Agency. 

The judges ruled Brocolin had received a total of Rp 49 billion and US$2.9 
million out of the money Marie and Adrian fraudulently obtained from BNI. 

In his defense, Dicky denied knowing the money he received resulted from 
unlawful transactions. He said he believed the funds came from an Israeli investor 
whom Marie had introduced to him in 2003. 

Speaking after the trial, Dicky denied any wrongdoing in the case and accused 
his business partners of having cheated him. 

He said the heavy sentence he received resulted from judges considering his 
criminal record. 

"Of course I will file an appeal against the decision," Dicky said. 

Since the BNI Kebayoran Baru case first shocked the nation in 2003, several 
high-ranking police officers have been charged for allegedly taking bribes from 
Adrian. 

Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung, a former National Police chief of detectives, and 
Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, a former police fraud unit head, are currently 
facing trial on the charges.

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The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Legislators bugged by graft body's wiretapping 

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wary lawmakers have accused the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) 
of bugging their telephone conversations, an act they said could be illegal. 

In a hearing here Tuesday between the KPK and the House Commission III on 
law and legislation, the lawmakers asked the commission whether they had been 
targets of wiretapping by the independent agency. 

"I discovered this funny symbol during my conversation on my cellular phone, 
and according to intelligence experts that I have spoken with, it meant that I 
have been bugged," legislator Azis Syamsuddin of the Golkar Party told the 
meeting. 

He said the incident served to reinforce a widely circulated rumor that 
legislators were being spied on by the KPK. 

Aziz feared details from his conversation could be used by his political 
rivals to attack him. 

Fellow legislator Mayasak Johan of the United Development Party (PPP) was 
concerned that any authority to spy on citizens' private activities could be 
abused by the KPK. 

"How can we be sure the wiretapping is solely for investigation purposes? 
What if it is abused? I fear we will become a surveillance community as what has 
been foretold in George Orwell's book (1984)," Mayasak said. 

He said any surveillance of legislators could constitute a human rights 
violation if it was carried out before they were declared suspects in corruption 
cases. 

Legislator Panda Nababan said the government had to ensure that any KPK 
bugging of officials was legal. 

"But if it's for investigating corruption cases, then it's fine," Panda said. 

The KPU is allowed under the 2002 Corruption Law to eavesdrop on 
conversations of all people it suspects of involvement in corruption cases, including 
legislators. 

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, is notorious for receiving kickbacks 
and bribes. 

Most recently, House members were accused of taking bribes from officials at 
the Home Ministry during the preliminary deliberations of the controversial 
Aceh governance bill. 

Responding to the lawmakers, KPK chairman Taufiequrrahman Ruki said the 
commission conducted phone tapping in only a small number of graft cases. 

"And it (wiretapping) requires a direct order from the KPK chairman, so I can 
guarantee that it will not be abused," Taufiequrrahman said. 

He said that phone tapping was costly because it required cooperation with 
many fixed line and mobile service providers and involved state-of-the-art 
technology. 

"We don't have enough money to bug all the members in the House," he said, 
laughing. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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