The story began in 1996 when PT Medco wanted to take over PT Dragon Oil Overseas, an oil company with wells in Turkmenistan, Central Asia. However Medco did not have enough cash to buy the 46 percent of Dragon Oil shares valued at US$57 million. Arifin Panigoro, boss of Medco, borrowed US$63 million from PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia for this. The money should have been repaid in October 1998, but because Medco was experiencing financial di