A second chief suspect in the multimillion-dollar letter of credit (L/C) frauds involving state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has gone missing.

Police investigating the case say they want to question the fugitive's lawyer and doctor about their roles in their client's disappearance.

Suspects

According to one of the investigators, both the lawyer and doctor would be declared suspects if there was evidence they had harboured Gramarindo Group director Adrian Waworuntu or helped him evade arrest.

Gramarindo Group companies are said to have been the prime beneficiaries of proceeds from fake L/Cs, which apparently came from banks in Africa.

Tough sentences

Some directors and former BNI employees have already been convicted for their roles in the fraud and have received heavy sentences. (DC World News 4 October 2004 and 23 August 2004).

Several suspects are still undergoing questioning and will be well aware that the courts in Jakarta are handing down tough sentences.

Disappearances

Waworuntu has already undergone some questioning about his alleged role in the BNI scandal,l but at the end of September he asked for a seven-day stay until 1 October for health reasons.

The police apparently became suspicious of Waworuntu's whereabouts before this deadline was reached, and after searches for the suspect failed they declared him a fugitive. Police believe he is still in Indonesia and he is subject to a travel ban.

The alleged number one suspect in the BNI scandal and owner of the Gramarindo Group, Maria Pauline Lumowa, absconded some months ago, initially fleeing to Singapore before reportedly travelling on to the Netherlands.

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