Jakarta – Police said on Tuesday they had issued a summons to the Indonesian holder of the McDonald's fast-food franchise for a second time for questioning over alleged graft involving the country's largest pension fund.
Bambang Rachmadi, accused of failing to pay back a 40 billion rupiah ($4 million) loan and interest on it to state pensions fund Jamsostek, did not answer a police summons last week. His relatives said then he was in Australia.
The loan was made to the Rachmadi-controlled holding company for McDonald's Indonesia – the country's largest fast-food chain with 76 outlets in 17 cities. "The [second] summons letter has been delivered to his family yesterday. If he is not present here yet we [will] ask the family to make him come at the the time of the questioning ... this Thursday," Jakarta police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told Reuters.
Asked what the police would do if Rachmadi failed to answer summonses, Alam said "we will arrest him. If he stays abroad, we will ask Interpol to help out". But he declined to give a deadline for Rachmadi to appear.
Police last week questioned two former top Jamsostek officials, suspected of giving Rachmadi's company the loan in 1999 without approval from the firm's board of commissioners. But current Jamsostek chief A. Djunaidi told local media last week Rachmadi had paid back his debt using cash and land.
Neither Rachmadi, his family nor McDonald's Indonesia officials were immediately available for comment.
The case comes as Indonesia, widely seen as one of the world's most corrupt nations, is prosecuting high-profile figures over their alleged involvement in graft scandals, including parliament speaker Akbar Tandjung.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has vowed to eliminate a culture of corruption and bribery that can be found even at the lowest level of administration.
Although the graft trials have raised hopes the problem is being dealt with, many Indonesians doubt the tainted legal system will seriously punish the rich and powerful.
Rachmadi is the son-in-law of former Indonesian vice-president Sudharmono, who also once headed the then-ruling Golkar Party.