Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya, the head of public affairs at Bank Danamon, said on Sunday that no customer of the bank would suffer losses as a result of the fraud, allegedly conducted by a single employee of the bank.

“Our banking affairs will continue as usual. The money embezzled will not affect a single one of our customers,” she said. “Our internal control system detected the discrepancy, which we believe occurred at the hands of one of our tellers.

“We decided to file the case with the South Jakarta Police,” she continued. “We will not tolerate such behavior from any of our employees. That is why we reported the case immediately to the police.”

Adj. Sr. Comr. Arismunandar, chief of the financial crimes unit at the Jakarta Police Special Crimes Directorate, identified the suspect as 41-year-old RN.

RN, according to Arismunandar, was a head teller at one of the bank’s branches and had been with Danamon since 1995.

She is accused of pilfering money from 2008 until she was caught early this year, he added.

“She did it on an on-and-off basis,” he said.

“When customers hand over their money to be deposited into their accounts, the money would normally go directly into the bank’s safe. She pilfered small amounts each time.”

Arismunandar added that the woman eventually accumulated nearly Rp 3 billion, comprising Rp 1.9 billion and $110,000.

He said the theft was only spotted during a change in leadership at the branch concerned, when the branch’s books were examined.

“When the bank conducted an audit of the cashflow books, they found that some money that should have been sent to the headquarters was missing,” he said.

After the new branch manager questioned the teller, she was handed over to police.

“We arrested her on March 9,” Arismunandar said. “We have been interrogating her since.”

Aside from the Bank Danamon case, the Special Crimes Directorate is handling six other multibillion-rupiah financial crimes, all of which were filed with the police since the beginning of this year.

The six separate financial crimes involve at least 21 suspects, including employees with at least three other Indonesian banks.

Arismunandar said police were still questioning suspects linked to an accounts officer at Bank Internasional Indonesia who was arrested recently over a suspected Rp 3.6 billion fraud.

He added that his office was also investigating people responsible for duping customers with bogus investment schemes.

Investigations are underway in the case of a woman who lost Rp 800 million after putting her money into a fraudulent investment company.

Police plan to charge the owner of the company with fraud, embezzlement and money laundering, Arismunandar said.