QSAR failure indicates scam, involving big names<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Sukabumi<\/p>\n
The failure of PT Qurnia Subur Alam Raya (QSAR) president
\ndirector Ramli Araby to repay investors' funds appears to be just
\nthe tip of an iceberg of a business scam involving politically
\nwell-placed individuals.<\/p>\n
According to residents of Sukabumi, West Java, where Ramli
\nset up the headquarters of his agribusiness company, QSAR was far
\nfrom being a professional company.<\/p>\n
An official of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
\n(KADIN) Sukabumi Chapter told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that
\nQSAR sold its farm produce to traditional markets and sidewalk
\ntraders, not to various food businesses as claimed.<\/p>\n
"PT QSAR was not involved in an industrial company as it used
\nto claim because it didn't supply crops to various food
\nprocessors both domestic and international," local KADIN chairman
\nAndri Setiawan said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a member of QSAR's Investor Communications Forum
\n(FKI) met Ramli at his cell on Sunday and held talks about the
\nstrange events surrounding his business.<\/p>\n
On condition of anonymity, he told the Post that Ramli
\nadmitted that he didn't have any money to repay thousands of
\ninvestors, but failed to explain how he had spent some Rp 460
\nbillion collected from some 6,800 investors.<\/p>\n
"Pak Ramli also asked me why he was being detained. He had
\ndone so many things for the government," he said.<\/p>\n
He called on the police to investigate thoroughly where the
\nmoney had been spent.<\/p>\n
"I don't care whether the money went to the government, the
\nFree Aceh Movement (GAM), or to other politicians; we must be
\nopen about this case," he was quick to add.<\/p>\n
Andri said QSAR ran its activities conventionally, involving
\nlocal communities that lacked business experience.<\/p>\n
"It sold tomatoes, red peppers or eggplants to traditional
\nmarkets around the city and other cities near to Sukabumi," Andri
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Vice President Hamzah Haz has defended the company's
\nreputation ever since news of its collapse broke out last month,
\ninsisting that QSAR was an export-oriented agribusiness company
\nthat had contributed millions of U.S. dollars in foreign reserves
\nto the country.<\/p>\n
He said QSAR had made 155 exports worth hundreds of millions
\nof U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
But a local villager who once served as a truck driver for the
\ncompany said that he never carried PT QSAR's farm production to
\nTanjung Priok port in North Jakarta nor loaded the crops to ships
\nsailing abroad, despite the company's claim to Vice President
\nHamzah Haz it was exporting its products.<\/p>\n
"Pak Wapres (Hamzah) once came to this place, noting the
\nplanned exports of PT QSAR's farm production. I was ordered by
\nthe company leaders to turn the trucks back to several markets
\nhere, instead of transporting the goods to Tanjung Priok," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Hamzah, who once made a visit to the company, located at
\nKadudampit village in Sukabumi, even put forward the idea of
\ntaking over the bankrupt company because it was "a legitimate
\nbusiness that needed the government's help."<\/p>\n
Besides Hamzah, other officials who made a visit to the
\ncompany included People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien
\nRais, Tosari Widjaja, a deputy speaker of the House of
\nRepresentatives, and several military generals.<\/p>\n
According to Andri, the business was not attractive to people
\nin Sukabumi regency because Ramli Araby was not familiar there.<\/p>\n
Ramli, along with six other company directors, Endjang
\nMuhamad, Meliana, Mohamad Kamal, Warman Pasawahan, Hendra
\nSupriatn and Yandi Sofiandi, are currently being detained at a
\nSukabumi police cells.<\/p>\n
Ramlan Baskara, also a company director and Ramli's younger
\nbrother, surrendered to the police on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
According to West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sudirman Ali,
\nRamli and other company directors had violated banking law by
\ncollecting public funds irregularly and the Criminal Code by
\nembezzling public funds.<\/p>\n
The violations carry a maximum sentence of six years in jail.<\/p>\n
According to Kadudampit residents, Ramli is an Acehnese who
\nmoved to the village following a worsening situation in the
\ntroubled province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam 1980s.<\/p>\n
Since PT QSAR set up in 1997, the company had developed its
\nfarming areas to several villages in Sukabumi, including
\nKadudampit, Kebonpedes, Gunung Jaya, and Sukamanis.<\/p>\n
"None of these directors was well-educated as they were
\nvillagers just like us," Iyep Badri, head of Kadudampit village,
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/qsar-failure-indicates-scam-involving-big-names-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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