The Attorney General's Office (AGO) on Wednesday also named Dicky Syahbandinata, Bank BJB's corporation and commercial division chief in 2020, and Zainuddin Mappa, Bank DKI's president director in 2020, suspects in the same case.
The Director of Investigation under the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Abdul Qohar, stated that the case originated from discrepancies in Sritex's financial reports for 2020 and 2021.
Qohar explained that while Sritex reported a profit of US$85.32 million in 2020, the company suddenly posted a loss of US$1.08 billion in 2021. "We see this as an anomaly," he remarked.
Sritex and its subsidiaries also had over Rp3.58 trillion in total outstanding to several banks -- Bank Jateng, Bank BJB, Bank DKI, and the syndication of Bank BNI, Bank BRI, and Indonesia Eximbank (LPEI) -- as of October 2024.
However, Sritex still received loans totaling over Rp692 billion from Bank BJB and Bank DKI, which the AGO calculated as losses to the state.
The AGO found the loan to violate national laws, and the arrested directors were suspected of failing to conduct a proper analysis of the struggling company, thus breaching Law No. 10 of 1998 on Banks, which mandated prudence in banking activities.
"Moreover, according to Fitch and Moody's credit ratings, PT Sritex's score is BB-, meaning they have a higher risk of defaulting," Qohar stated.
The AGO also found that Lukminto, the Sritex director, failed to use the loans from the two banks for their intended purpose. Instead of being used for working capital, the loans were used to pay debts and purchase non-productive assets.
After Sritex defaulted on its credit, the government could not recover state losses by seizing its assets, as their value was too small. The company had since been declared bankrupt by the Semarang Commercial Court.
The three individuals are accused of violating Art. 1 or Art. 3 juncto Art. 18 of Law No. 31 of 1999 on Corruption Eradication.
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Translator: Nadia Putri R, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Primayanti
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