Jakarta. The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court on Monday found Maria Pauline Lumowa guilty of bribery and money laundering and sentenced her to 18 years in prison for a bank embezzlement case in 2003.

Maria, 62, has moved to other countries since she became a suspect almost 18 years ago, until the Serbian government extradited her at Jakarta’s request last July.

She was accused of embezzling around $ 200 million after accepting loans from the state-owned BNI bank using forged documents.

“The accused will be sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 800 million or four more months in prison if she does not pay,” presiding judge Saifudin Zuhri told the hearing. .

In addition, the panel of judges orders him to repay the state Rp 185 billion in damages within a month after his guilty verdict is final and enforceable.

Otherwise, his personal fortune will be seized by state prosecutors.

“If the accused’s wealth is not sufficient to repay the debt, she must serve another seven years in prison,” the judge said as the verdict was read.
In response, Maria said she would take a week to review an appeal.

Prosecutors demanded a 20-year sentence at an earlier hearing.

Justice officials said Maria was arrested by Interpol during her visit to Serbia in July last year, based on a Red Notice issued by Indonesian authorities in December 2003.

The extradition was a reciprocal action by the Serbian government after Indonesian authorities agreed to extradite data theft convict Nikolo Iliev to Serbia in 2015.

She was accused by the Indonesian authorities of embezzling loans totaling 136 million dollars and 56 million euros issued by BNI between October 2002 and July 2003.

Indonesian investigators alleged that she used a bogus “letter of credit” to secure export loans from the mining and plantation company Gramarindo Group, which she co-founded with Adrian Waworuntu.

Adrian was convicted of the same case and sentenced to life in prison.

BNI became suspicious in June 2003 and conducted an investigation, only to find that Gramarindo Group had never engaged in export sales.

The state bank reported the case to the national police but Maria had already fled the country. She was residing in Singapore in September 2003, a month before the police named her corruption suspect.

In 2009, Indonesian authorities learned that she had moved to the Netherlands. The government requested his extradition from the Dutch government twice, in 2010 and 2014, but to no avail.

Maria has had Dutch nationality since 1979.