MEDAN: Former head of BNI sub-branch Andi Hakim Febriansyah was arrested at Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, on Monday (April 6), for allegedly embezzling Rp 28 billion (US$1.64 million) of funds owned by a Catholic church.
Hakim and his wife Camelia Rosa were arrested upon arrival from Malaysia by immigration officers.
Medan Immigration Office head Uray Avia said both fugitives were detected by passenger analysis unit (PAU) team when they were onboard a Malaysia Airlines flight MH860 from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Kualanamu.
The PAU team then conducted an analysis and identified the fugitives in the passenger manifest, after the immigration office had earlier received information from the police that Hakim and his wife had fled abroad.
“After we confirmed that they both were in a prevention list submitted by the police, we immediately detained them according to procedure,” Uray said after arresting Hakim and his wife at the airport on Monday.
He said the move against Hakim and his wife was related to alleged banking crimes, document forgery and embezzlement at Aek Nabara Catholic parish in Labuhanbatu regency, North Sumatra.
Both fugitives were thereafter handed over to the North Sumatra Police’s Special Crimes Investigation Directorate (Reskrimsus).
North Sumatra Reskrimsus director Sr. Comr. Rahmat Budi Handoko confirmed that Hakim and his wife were being detained at North Sumatra Police detention centre. He said the arrest was the result of a coordination between the police and airport immigration.
“The case is being investigated by detectives, including the possible involvement of other parties,” he said. North Sumatra Police named Hakim, who was former head of state-owned lender Bank BNI Aek Nabara sub-branch, as suspect on March 13 for allegedly swindling the Catholic parish’s funds.
Hakim had first fled abroad when he was about to be questioned by police. He is believed to have departed from Bali to Australia on Feb 28. North Sumatra Police have coordinated with the National Police’s International Relations Division, Interpol and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to find the suspect.
They had also applied for the issuance of a Red Notice through the National Police’s International Relations Division to assist in arresting Andi.
Rahmat said the alleged crime began in 2019 when Andi offered the church an investment product dubbed “BNI Investment Deposit”. At the time, he was still serving as head of a BNI sub-branch in Aek Nabara, promising a yield of 8 per cent per year.
The yield was far above the average interest rate of 3.7 per cent for regular time deposits.
“Such a product, however, was not a BNI product. It was fictitious,” Rahmat said.
Believing in Andi’s ploy, the church collected congregation funds to be invested into BNI with the hopes of gaining a higher interest rate. Andi even gave his own money to the church several times, pretending it was part of the 8 per cent yield from the promised investment.
To further deceive churchgoers, Andi issued fake transfer slips and withdrew funds using forged signatures to make it appear the customer had funds with the bank. The congregation funds were actually transferred to his wife’s account, Camelia Rosa, and their own company, PT Chiara Keanu Chareem Sejahtera.
Rahmat said that after several years, December 2025 was the last time the congregation deposited money at BNI. Two months later, Andi submitted a leave request on Feb 9 and then resigned from BNI, taking early retirement on Feb 20A.
Andi was replaced as BNI sub-branch head in Aek Nabara by Ari Septian, who told church representative Sr Natalia that Andi had retired from BNI.
S. Natalia told Ari that the church had invested their funds through Andi. Sr Natalia then printed the balance statement and found that it had been withdrawn in full. Based on the report, BNI investigated the Catholic congregation’s funds flow and found that the suspect had embezzled the funds.
Head of BNI branch in Rantauprapat, Muhammad Camel, filed a police report on the suspected embezzlement of the Catholic congregation fund with the North Sumatra Police on Feb 26.
Rahmat said that by the time detectives were set to question Andi, he and his wife, Camelia, had already left for Bali on holiday before travelling to Australia just two days after the report was filed. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
e 2003.“If the worst comes to the worst, I have a little land in Uttar Pradesh; I will go back and become a farmer.”
