Jakarta. Maria Pauline Lumowa, a fugitive in a significant embezzlement case involving more than $200 million in bank loans, was extradited by the Serbian federal government to Indonesia on Wednesday, 17 years after she was called suspect.
The suspect is scheduled to come to the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday morning.
” I am delighted to reveal that we have officially concluded the handover procedure of the fugitive, Maria Pauline Lumowa, by the Serbian federal government,” Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly stated in a declaration on Wednesday evening.
The minister left to Serbia on Saturday to satisfy President Alexsandar Vucic and settle the extradition process.
Maria, 62, was apprehended by the Interpol when she checked out Serbia in July in 2015, based upon a red notification released by Indonesian authorities in December 2003, Yasonna stated.
” Indonesia has no extradition treaty with Serbia but we took part in high-level technique to Serbian leaders. Besides, both countries have excellent relationship, so our request for the extradition was finally given,” the minister stated.
The extradition was a mutual action by the Serbian government after Indonesian authorities consented to extradite information theft found guilty Nikolo Iliev to Serbia in 2015, he said.
” Maria has actually tried a legal maneuver to escape her extradition and a European nation has actually likewise attempted to obstruct the process,” Yasonna said without naming the nation.
Maria holds dual citizenships, with one of them being Dutch.
Gramarindo Group
She is implicated by Indonesian authorities of embezzling loans amounting to $136 million and 56 million euros released by state-owned bank BNI in between October 2002 and July 2003.
Indonesian detectives declared that she had actually used fake “letter of credit” to get the export loans for mining and plantation business Gramarindo Group, which she co-founded with Adrian Waworuntu.
Adrian has been found guilty of the very same case and sentenced to life in jail.
BNI became suspicious in June 2003 and ran an investigation, only to discover that Gramarindo Group had actually never taken part in export sales.
The state bank reported the case to the National Police however Maria had actually already left the country. She lived in Singapore in September 2003, a month before authorities called her corruption suspect.
In 2009, Indonesian authorities learned that she had actually moved home to the Netherlands. The government requested her extradition to the Dutch federal government two times, in 2010 and 2014, however to no avail.
Maria has actually held the Dutch citizenship because1979
According to Yasonna, her experience ended on July 16 in 2015, when she was arrested by the Interpol upon arrival at the Nikola Tesla International Airport, Serbia.
” The extradition shows the country’s strong commitment to sending anyone committed to criminal offense in Indonesia to justice,” Yasonna said.
