Fugitive in State Bank Fraud Extradited to Indonesia After 17 Years

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Maria Pauline Lumowa, a fugitive who fled Indonesia 17 years ago while under suspicion of embezzling 1.7 trillion rupiahs ($118 million) from state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday, July 9.

Kompas TV reported that Maria, who was extradited from Serbia, got off the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia at around 10:47am.

Clad in an orange detention vest, she wore a mask and her hands were cuffed. She was accompanied by officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) and the Immigration Department.

Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly flew together with Maria from Serbia. Upon Maria's arrival, the minister held a press conference in the airport’s VVIP Room.

"I am pleased to announce that we have officially completed the process of fugitive handing over on behalf of Maria Pauline Lumowa from the Serbian Government," said Yasonna.

Maria Pauline Lumowa is one of the suspects of BNI fraud worth 1.7 trillion rupiahs through a fictitious letter of credit (L/C). The case began in the period from October 2002 to July 2003.

At that time BNI disbursed loans worth $136 million and 56 million euros or the equivalent of 1.7 trillion rupiahs at the then exchange rate to PT Gramarindo Group, which is owned by Maria and Adrian Waworuntu.

(Writer: Ardito Ramadhan | Editor: Kristian Erdianto)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/07/09/10560051/buron-tersangka-pembobolan-bni-maria-pauline-lumowa-tiba-di-bandara-soekarno#utm_source=www.kompas.com&utm_medium=kgbreakingnews