Workers file suit against Jamsostek board of directors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers acting on behalf of more than 100
\nworkers filed a lawsuit yesterday against directors of the state-
\nowned workers' insurance company PT Jamsostek for the alleged
\nmisuse of funds under its management, a court official said.<\/p>\n
\"A group of lawyers from the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
\nRights Association (PBHI) have filed a lawsuit against directors
\nof PT Jamsostek,\" chief secretary Mugiono of the Jakarta State
\nAdministrative Court told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said the lawsuit was directed against three directors of
\nJamsostek, including the president director and the finance
\ndirector.<\/p>\n
\"I will report and discuss the lawsuit with the head of the
\ncourt and we will then decide on when to hear the case, if
\npossible within two weeks,\" Mugiono said.<\/p>\n
PBHI Executive Director Hendardi told reporters the suit was
\nalso directed against the head of the investment division.<\/p>\n
He said that his organization had received more than 130 power
\nof attorney letters requesting that his group take the case to
\ncourt. But only 104 of those came in time to be included in the
\nclass-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\"We are demanding that the documents that ordered the money to
\nbe drawn from the funds be revoked and declared nullified,\" said
\nlawyer Dwiyanto Prihartono, who heads the team of PBHI lawyers.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said Thursday that on
\nPresident Soeharto's order, Rp 2.85 billion (US$712.500 million)
\nin Jamsostek funds had been used to finance the deliberation of
\nthe manpower bill by the House members.<\/p>\n
The 1992\/1997 House of Representatives passed the bill on
\nSept. 11. The manpower law will become effective on Oct. 1 next
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Press reports have cited documents saying that Rp 7.1 billion
\nof the funds had been used. But Jamsostek's president Abdillah
\nNusi said later that only Rp 3.1 billion had been withdrawn.<\/p>\n
Dwiyanto said that documents obtained by the group, and cited
\nin the lawsuit, show that Rp 5.1 billion was drawn from the
\nJamsostek funds.<\/p>\n
Latief said the money was used to pay for hotel accommodation,
\nfood, secretarial and transportation expenses during the two-
\nmonth deliberation at Hotel Horison in Ancol, North Jakarta, and
\nat Kartika Chandra Hotel in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Hendardi said that even though the President had issued the
\norder, the directors of PT Jamsostek were still legally
\nresponsible for the use of the workers' insurance funds for
\nactivities outside the interests of the 14.5 million workers who
\ncontribute to it annually.<\/p>\n
\"We are also currently studying and preparing a lawsuit for
\neconomic crime, \" Hendardi said, adding that he hoped the lawsuit
\nwould be completed in one month.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's office and the Development
\nFinance Comptroller have since questioned eight Jamsostek
\nexecutives, manpower and finance ministry officials and House of
\nRepresentative staff over the case.<\/p>\n
Under the President's order, Jamsostek, which draws its funds
\nfrom worker contributions and levies on companies, had also used
\nthe money to finance the repatriation of 24,000 illegal
\nIndonesian workers from Saudi Arabia last month.<\/p>\n
About Rp 3 billion had been deposited in state banks to help
\nease a liquidity problem.<\/p>\n
Jamsostek's assets are worth Rp 5.3 trillion, with cumulative
\nprofits in the past three years reaching Rp 476 billion, Latief
\nsaid. (10)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/workers-file-suit-against-jamsostek-board-of-directors-1447893297",
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