Police Involved Role Of 'accomplice' Maria Lumowa In Fictional L / C Case

JAKARTA - Bareskrim Polri investigators are investigating the statements of a number of witnesses in the Rp 1.7 trillion BNI break-in with the suspect Maria Pauline Lumowa. The police dig up the statements of the former Director of PT Metranta, Richard Kountul, who became Maria Lumowa's 'accomplice' regarding the fictitious Letter of Credit (L / C).

Head of the Public Information Bureau (Karo Penmas) of the National Police's Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Awi Setiyono, said investigators received information regarding Richard's role in signing a number of files.

"The witness on behalf of RK as the Director of PT Metranta (PT MT) has signed a number of documents for MPL (Maria Pauline Lumowa)," said Awi at Police Headquarters, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 28.

Awi said Richard was also ordered by Maria Lumowa to disburse L / C worth 4.8 million euros. This money is then transferred to the accounts of two companies owned by Maria Lumowa.

"Richard also withdrew a letter of credit (L / C) worth 4.8 million euros which was converted into US dollars on July 13, 2003. Then, transferred the money to two companies, namely PT APB and PT OMI on orders from Maria as the owner of the company, "said Awi.

Apart from these two companies, Maria Lumowa is called the police as well as a decision maker for 8 companies that are members of the Gramarindo Mega Indonesia group.

"These companies have submitted 40 LC slips to BNI Bank worth US $ 76.943 million, then 56,114,446.50 Euros (56.1 million Euros)," said Alwi.

The following is a list of companies that have submitted 40 L / C slips to Bank BNI;

1. PT TCP as much as 5 L / C

2. PT FK (2 L / C)

3. PT MUEI (9 L / C)

4. PT GMI (8 L / C)

5. PT BNK (7 L / C)

6. PT BSM (6 L / C)

7. PT FM (2 L / C)

8. PT MT (1 L / C)

Maria Lumowa is a suspect who was arrested in Serbia while on the run. The fictitious L / C mode carried out by Maria and a number of people in October 2002-July 2003 caused BNI to suffer a loss of Rp 1.7 trillion. The money is a loan from the Gramarindo Group owned by Maria Lumowa and Adrian Waworuntu.

PT Gramarindo is suspected of being assisted by unscrupulous BNI employees because the loan is still approved with L / C guarantees from Dubai Bank Kenya Ltd., Rosbank Switzerland, Middle East Bank Kenya Ltd., and The Wall Street Banking Corp.

Several banks that became guarantor were also known not to correspondence banks of Bank BNI. BNI in June 2003 then investigated the financial transactions of PT Gramarindo Group. As a result, the company never made exports or was not in accordance with what was reported during the loan process.

This case was also reported by BNI to the National Police Headquarters. During the process at the police, Maria Lumowa left Indonesia by going to Singapore in September 2003 or a month before being named a suspect.

From the results of the investigation, it was found that Maria Lumowa had often been in the Netherlands in 2009 and often went back and forth to Singapore. Maria also turned out to have been a Dutch citizen since 1979. For this reason, the Indonesian government tried to apply for extradition to the Dutch government twice in 2010 and 2014.

However, the Dutch government rejected the request. In fact, it provides an option for Maria Lumowa to be tried in the Netherlands. On July 16, 2019, Maria Lumowa was arrested based on an Interpol red notice issued in 2004.