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Eager to reclaim hundreds of millions of dollars of cash collateral allegedly stolen and stashed in Swiss bank accounts, the Attorney General’s Office is pushing for the speedy trial of Hesham al Warraq and Ravat Ali Rizvi, the majority shareholders of the failed PT Bank Century, who are currently graft suspects, a spokesman said on Friday.

“Our priority now is to have this case tried in court, as soon as possible. Swiss authorities require us to provide a court decision on this case,” AGO spokesman Didiek Darmanto said.

Hesham and Ravat, who have fled abroad, are charged with embezzling assets worth trillions of rupiah from Bank Century, which received a Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) government bailout after it was taken over by the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS) in November 2008.

Prosecutors have pledged to seek a trial in absentia for both men later this month, but Didiek would not provide the date.

“We are waiting for the estimated state losses from officials at the Supreme Audit Agency and the case files from police. Those documents will be combined with a request for a trial in absentia,” Didiek said.

Marwan Effendy, the AGO’s deputy for special crimes, said earlier this week that prosecutors were determined to bring the case to court before the end of the month.

“We have learned that Hesham alone took Rp 3 trillion. We’re ready [to go to court] but we still need official loss estimates from state auditors and the money laundering charge provided by the police,” Marwan said. “Once they finish their job, the case is ready for trial. We hope it will happen this month.”

The AGO said earlier it had contacted authorities in Switzerland and Hong Kong to seek assistance in retrieving stolen assets worth more than $1 billion allegedly embezzled by the two suspects.

A joint team of officials from various state agencies has asked the Swiss authorities to help return cash collateral worth $220 million held at Dresdner Bank of Switzerland, and has sought help from authorities in Hong Kong to trace and seize assets belonging to Hesham and Ravat.

The two are alleged to have stashed $650 million in stolen Bank Century assets in Standard Chartered Bank and another $388.8 million in ING Bank in Hong Kong.

The joint team, led by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, includes officials from the AGO, the National Police, the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK), the central bank, the Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance and the new management of Bank Century, which has been renamed PT Bank Mutiara. Heru Andriyanto