BNI Burglary Maria Pauline Lumowa Will Have Its First Session Today

Maria Pauline Lumowa (Photo by: Kemenkumham PR)

JAKARTA - Maria Pauline Lumowa is scheduled to undergo an inaugural trial at the Corruption Court, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday, January 13, the suspect in the Kebayoran Baru branch of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) cash theft suspicion using a fictitious Letter of Credit (L / C) mode. The trial of this case with an agenda of reading the charges.

Based on the Case Tracking Information System (SIPP) website of the Central Jakarta District Court, Maria's case was registered as number 1 / Pid.Sus-TPK / 2021 / PN Jkt.Pst.

In this case Maria was charged with two counts. The first is related to Article 2 Paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on Eradication of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 Paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 64 Paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code, subsidiary to Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on Eradication of Corruption jo Article 55 paragraph (1)-1 KUHP jo Article 64 paragraph (1) KUHP.

Then, Maria's second indictment is related to Article 3 Paragraph (1) letter a of the Law on the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering, subsidiary to Article 6 Paragraph (1) letters a and b of the Law on Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering.

For your information, 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.