Police Starts Investigating TPPU Maria Lumowa Through 3 Private Banks

Karo Penmas, Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Awi Setiyono (Photo: Police Public Relations)

JAKARTA - Bareskrim Polri investigators have begun investigating the alleged money laundering crime (TPUU) committed by Maria Pauline Lumowa, a suspect in the BNI burglary case worth IDR 1.7 trillion.

This deepening was carried out by examining three witnesses from elements of a private bank. Apart from TPPU, the examination is also to investigate the allegations of involvement of other parties.

"Investigators will investigate three private banks regarding the flow of funds under the fictitious LC," said Karo Penmas, Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Awi Setiyono at Police Headquarters, Tuesday, July 28.

However, unfortunately he did not specify the three banks in question. However, from the testimony of the three banks they will trace the flow of money resulting from Maria's corruption.

"What is clear is that the Police will follow the money. Investigators will follow where the money flows, all the money will be examined," Awi concluded.

The investigation plan is the next step for the investigation after extracting information from another suspect with the initials Adrian Herling Waworuntu (AHW).

Meanwhile, Maria Pauline Lumowa is a fugitive from the Indonesian government. This is because he is a suspect in the cash burglary case at the Bank BNI Kebayoran Baru branch using a fictitious Letter of Credit (L / C) mode.

In the period from October 2002 to July 2003, Bank BNI suffered a loss of 136 million US dollars and 56 million euros or the equivalent of Rp 1.7 trillion based on the current exchange rate. This amount of money is a loan from PT Gramarindo Group owned by Maria Pauline Lumowa and Adrian Waworuntu.

BNI Bank began to feel suspicion. Because, the borrowing process which should be quite difficult because of the large nominal it runs very easily. It is suspected that PT Gramarindo Group was assisted by unscrupulous employees of Bank BNI because the loan application still agreed with L / C guarantees from Dubai Bank Kenya Ltd., Rosbank Switzerland, Middle East Bank Kenya Ltd., and The Wall Street Banking Corp.

Moreover, some of the banks that became the guarantor were not correspondence banks of Bank BNI. This suspicion grew stronger in June 2003. BNI 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.

Until finally, BNI reported the alleged fictitious L / C to the National Police Headquarters. However, Maria Pauline 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 the woman had often been in the Netherlands in 2009 and often went back and forth to Singapore. In fact, it is known that Maria has been a Dutch citizen since 1979. Thus, the Indonesian government tried to apply for extradition to the Dutch government twice, to be precise in 2010 and 2014.

However, the Dutch Government rejected the request. Instead, it provides an option for Maria Pauline Lumowa to be tried in the Netherlands. Until finally, the woman was arrested on July 16, 2019, according to an Interpol red notice published in 2004.