Indonesia Extradites Fugitive Maria Lumowa from Serbia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly recalled the lengthy process the Indonesian government needed to go through to extradite bank fraud suspect Maria Pauline Lumowa. According to the minister, there was a European country that had lobbied Serbia against Maria Lumowa’s extradition. 

Yasonna even claims that stories from the Serbian Ministry of Justice suggest Maria Lumowa’s lawyer even tried to use bribery. “There were attempts to bribe,” said Yasonna in a press conference held at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Thursday.

However, he did not reveal which country tried to block the extradition of Lumowa - who reportedly had been a Dutch national since 1979. The minister said Indonesia had requested her extradition twice to the Kingdom of the Netherlands but was met with rejections. 

This, Yasonna revealed, forced the government to take high-level diplomatic approaches between Indonesia and Serbia, it was a daunting task as both countries have yet to establish an extradition treaty. The Indonesian government had to act quickly as Maria Lumowo’s arrest in Serbia would end as soon as July 16 after she was arrested on July 16, 2019, by the country’s Interpol over a red notice in December 2003. 

Maria Lumowa is one of the suspects the Indonesian authorities had accused of embezzling loans totaling $136 million and 56 million euros issued by state-owned bank BNI between October 2002 and July 2003.

Indonesian police argued she had used fake “letter of credit” to get the export loans for mining and plantation company Gramarindo Group, which she co-founded with Adrian Waworuntu - who is serving life in prison. 

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI