Police detain court receiver in Manulife case<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The police said on Tuesday that they had
\ndetained the court receiver in an alleged sales scam involving
\ninsurance company PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI).<\/p>\n
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said that
\ncourt receiver Ari Ahmad Effendi had been held in detention since
\nThursday last week.<\/p>\n
\"We have put Ari Ahmad Effendi, into police custody since
\nThursday. His detention will be effective until Dec. 26,\" Saleh
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The police have so far detained two out of six suspects, whom
\nare alleged to have facilitated the sale of a 40 percent stake in
\nAJMI by using duplicated shares.<\/p>\n
Last month, the police detained AJMI's vice president Adhie
\nPoernomo, whom they later released.<\/p>\n
\"Adhie has released from police custody since Nov. 20, but he
\ncan still be questioned anytime,\" Saleh said.<\/p>\n
The Manulife case centers around the sale of a 40 percent
\nstake in AJMI by the Jakarta Commercial Court to the Canadian-
\nbased insurance firm Manufacturer Life Insurance Co. (Manulife)
\nthrough a tender process.<\/p>\n
Manulife paid Rp 170 billion for the 40 percent stake, which
\nwould raise its ownership in its joint venture AJMI to 91 percent
\nfrom 51 percent.<\/p>\n
The shares were previously held by PT Dharmala Sakti
\nSejahtera, which the Jakarta Commercial Court declared bankrupt
\nin June.<\/p>\n
Ari was the court receiver that organized the tender to
\nauction Dharmala's stake in AJMI to help creditors recoup their
\nloans.<\/p>\n
However, the tender was disputed by the Virgin Islands-based
\nRoman Gold Assets Ltd., which claimed it had already bought the
\n40 percent stake from Dharmala in an earlier agreement.<\/p>\n
The company argued it owned the original shares, accusing
\nAdhie and Ari of duplicating Dharmala's shares in AJMI.<\/p>\n
Roman reported its suspicions to the police, who then detained
\nAdhie and Ari.<\/p>\n
The other suspects are Mitchel David New, who acted as the
\nbuyer, Kusmartono, who conducted the tender, Victor Apps, the
\npresident of AJMI and Syamsuddin M. Sinaga, the judge in
\nDharmala's bankruptcy case.<\/p>\n
Saleh further said that the National Police Headquarters had
\nsent the dossiers of three suspects in the alleged sales scam to
\nthe Jakarta High Court late last week, where they will be
\nprocessed before being handed over to the designated district
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
The dossiers, he said, were of Ari Ahmad Effendi, Kusmartono,
\nand Adhie Poernomo Widjaya.<\/p>\n
\"We are still in the process of completing the dossier on
\nsuspect Mitchell David New,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta High Court reviews police dossiers to decide
\nwhether a case is strong enough to proceed to court.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the police will continue their investigation,
\nincluding the questioning of the three suspects, in order to
\npresent a valid case to the court.<\/p>\n
Sources close to the tender process said that two senior
\nofficers at the police headquarters had threatened Dharmala's
\nformer creditors by saying that they would be included in the
\nlist of suspects.<\/p>\n
According to them, the police intended to interrogate top
\nexecutives of Dharmala's 23 creditors.<\/p>\n
These include large foreign banks such as Standard Chartered
\nBank, American Express Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and the Indonesian
\nBank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).<\/p>\n
But Saleh denied any plans to expand the list of suspects to
\nthe creditors, saying that the police were only focussing on the
\ncurrent list.<\/p>\n
The handling of the Manulife case received wide criticism, in
\nparticular from the Canadian Finance Minister, who had sent a
\nletter of protest to his Indonesian counterpart.<\/p>\n
In response to the case, the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
\n(Bapepam) conducted its own investigation into the case involving
\nDharmala, which had been a publicly listed company.<\/p>\n
Bapepam questioned the Power of Attorney with which Dharmala
\nsold its 40 percent stake to Roman Gold.<\/p>\n
\"Dharmala management's failure to notify its auditors, Bapepam
\nor the public of the existence of an important document such as
\nthe power of attorney, is a violation of the capital market
\nregulation,\" the agency said.<\/p>\n
AJMI filed last month the very same criminal charges of
\nforgery against Suyanto Gondokusumo, the principal of Dharmala,
\nand Roman.<\/p>\n
AJMI argued that by law, the assets of a bankrupt company was
\nsubject to the court receiver's supervision. Thus any asset sales
\noutside that conducted by the court was illegal.<\/p>\n
Roman has said that it bought Dharmala's shares in AJMI in
\nOct, long after Dharmala was declared bankrupt.<\/p>\n
The police however, has yet to report any progress on AJMI's
\ncriminal suits.(bkm\/ylt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-detain-court-receiver-in-manulife-case-1447893297",
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