Report: Indonesian ex-president helps catch Malaysian businessman in fraud case

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A tip-off by a former Indonesian president led to the arrest in Jakarta of a Malaysian businessman in connection with a multimillion U.S. dollar fraud case, a news report and officials said Monday.

Former President Abdurrahman Wahid notified police that Vijayeswaran S. Vijayaratnam, the managing director of a company named QI Ltd., was on Interpol's wanted list for alleged fraud in the Philippines, the New Straits Times reported.

It said Wahid, who discussed business with Vijayeswaran several years ago, also told police about his whereabouts in Jakarta.

This led to the arrest of Vijayeswaran and three Filipino QI executives at a five-star hotel in Jakarta last Thursday, the newspaper said.

Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Adang Firman confirmed the arrest of four foreigners last Thursday, but said it followed a tip-off from Interpol. He did not identify them by name and declined to comment further.

An arrest warrant has been issued against Vijayeswaran for suspected fraud and conspiracy, according to Interpol's Web site.

The newspaper said Vijayeswaran was wanted in the Philippines in connection with a fraud case involving US$90 million (€66 million), but gave no other details.

Ricardo Diaz, an official of the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation, said Vijayeswaran and four colleagues, including a German, have pending arrest warrants in the Philippines for syndicated fraud.

"He fled the Philippines, so we put him on Interpol red notice, that's why he was arrested," Diaz said. He said the German national managed to escape "so only he and three Filipinos were arrested."

Vijayeswaran and the others allegedly defrauded a businessman who was promised huge returns on his investments, which the company officers pocketed, Diaz said. The man allegedly suffered losses of US$625,000 (€480,000), he said.

Diaz said the Philippines is asking Indonesia to extradite the four arrested men.

QI group director of finance Richard E. Zinkiewicz, however, told The Associated Press from Hong Kong, where QI is based, that Vijayeswaran and the others are wanted in the Philippines because of a "wholly unmerited claim" made by their two former Filipino associates following a business dispute.

"The company and its representatives are cooperating fully with the Interpol in Indonesia regarding this matter," he said.

The New Straits Times said Wahid knew about Vijayeswaran because the two had met some years ago when the Malaysian businessman had offered to make gold coins bearing images of the former president and his grandfather.

It was not clear whether the coins were ever made.

QI has branches across the world and makes limited-edition coins, gold and diamond jewelry and time pieces, according to its Web site.