http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1894&Itemid=209
Police Say Gang Swindled Rp 20 Billion From Top Brunei Official
Written by Our Correspondent
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Did the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei or his representative fall for
a ring of con artists from South Sulawesi who asked for illegal contributions
to the presidential campaign of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono?
Police aren't saying, and an inquiry by Asia Sentinel to the Brunei
embassy in Jakarta was met by silence and a secretary who first put us on hold
and then hung up. Police officials have only said the con artists bilked a
"senior Brunei government official" into giving them nearly US$2 million to
contribute to a "prominent Indonesian political party." It is illegal for
foreigners to donate to political campaign in Indonesia.
According to the Jakarta Globe newspaper, national police Monday
announced the arrest of a ring of 13 alleged swindlers who were said to have
been impersonating government officials since 2006, making phone calls to their
victims and asking them to deposit money into various bank accounts.
It seems difficult to believe a gang of crooks could actually get one of
the world's richest men on the phone to cough up the money, making it more
likely, perhaps, that someone from the palace in Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei's
capital, directed the money to the campaign, believed to be Yudhoyono's.
Especially because it wouldn't be the first time the Sultan channeled
money into an illegal political pipeline. In 1987, US congressional
investigators discovered that the Brunei monarch, at the request of the
administration of President Ronald Reagan, had attempted to deliver US$10
million in illicit and secret aid to Nicaraguan rebels in the infamous
Iran-Contra scandal. In a political scandal that could only be described as
bizarre, senior Reagan administration officials on the National Security
Council sought to sell weapons illegally to Iran, which was then under an arms
embargo, in exchange for Iran's help in gaining the release of six US hostages
held by Lebanese Hizbolah rebels. They also sought to use money gained from the
sale of the weapons to the Nicaraguan rebels.
According to Congressional investigators, the Sultan agreed to put US$10
million into the scheme, only to have a bumbling Marine lieutenant colonel
named Oliver L. North and his assistant, an attractive blonde named Fawn Hall,
give the Bruneians the wrong bank account numbers by mistake. The Sultan's
money ended up in the bank account of a Swiss businessman who ultimately gave
it back to the Sultan with interest.
Brunei's Foreign Minister, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, told the New York
Times in 1987 that the Sultan donated the money ''at the suggestion of the
United States for humanitarian assistance.'' However, testimony in Washington
indicated officials asked the sultan for the money because Congress had denied
US government aid to the rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista
government, the Times reported.
In the current case, "Thank God we were able to apprehend them now,"
Insp. Gen. Hadiatmoko, deputy chief of the National Police's criminal
investigation department, told a news conference. "We have arrested 13 suspects
in different places since last week." Two others, the paper said, including the
alleged mastermind, were still at large.
Hadiatmoko said the group compiled information about high-profile figures
from Indonesia and elsewhere via the Internet, newspapers and the White and
Yellow Pages.
"In their latest effort, for reasons related to the election, this group
started to seek out other countries," he said. "They called at least 32 foreign
officials, including an official from Brunei Darussalam who transferred Rp 20
billion to their account at Bank Mandiri last month."
Hadiatmoko said the group would open bank accounts under the names of
public figures to convince victims they were legitimate. In one case, he said,
they opened an account as Director General of Customs Anwar Supriyadi. "They
made a fake [ID card] with Anwar's name to open the account," Hadiatmoko said.
"With this account, the victim would believe that it was Anwar who called
asking them to transfer money."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
