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Co-founder Of Ailing Indonesian Bank Arrested: Police

Source: Agence France-Presse (26-11-2008)


The co-founder of Indonesia's ailing Bank Century faces up to 15 years in jail after being arrested for breaking the country's banking laws, police said Thursday.

"On Tuesday we questioned one of the owners of Bank Century, Robert Tantular. On Wednesday we arrested him and officially named him a suspect," national police Chief Detective Susno Duadji told reporters.

"He influenced the direction of the bank so that it no longer carried out its obligations," Duadji said, without elaborating.

"But people don't have to worry as the bank is now operating as normal," he said.

Indonesia's government last week banned bank executives, including minor shareholder Tantular, from travelling abroad after the state-owned deposit guarantee agency took control of Bank Century.

The move by the agency, the first of its kind since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, came after the bank failed to meet its obligations on an interbank loan.

Bank Century, one of the country's smallest, had 1.2 billion dollars in assets as of September 30.