'Arisan' participants worried

'Arisan' participants worried

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of participants in the controversial
Danasonic arisan chain savings enterprise have expressed concern
about the future of the scheme following media reports that
police were continuing investigations into the coordinating
company, PT Saptamitra Ekakarya.

National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman Astrosemitro has
instructed all regional police chiefs throughout the country to
immediately carry out an in-depth investigation into any similar
activities occurring in their respective areas.

Participants in the scheme have been telephoning police
investigators as well as executives of PT Saptamitra Ekakarya,
the company which runs the chain savings system.

"We receive many calls everyday from the participants,
including some from Sumatra, asking about the results of our
ongoing investigation," City Police spokesman, Lt. Col. Bambang
Haryoko, said yesterday.

But police could do nothing for the time being, as the
investigation had yet to be completed, he said.

Yesterday, dozens of Danasonic participants from as far away
as East Java and Sumatra gathered in front of PT Saptamitra
Ekakarya's head office on Jl. Pasar Minggu Raya, South Jakarta,
wishing to know whether or not the company would be closed by the
authorities.

None of the participants expressed anger towards the company.

"What we need is to ask the police to properly investigate
this case because we feel that this chain savings system has not
put people at a disadvantage thus far," said Suswati, who came to
the Danasonic head office representing 35 students of the Moslem
Gontor Pesantren Koranic school in Ponorogo, East Java.

According to the company's commissioner, Sindi Husain, his
company has been receiving hundreds of telephone calls a day from
participants for several days, with people asking about the fate
of the business.

"I have told them that the business is still being carried on
because there has not been any notice from the police or the
authorities forbidding (the company's) activities or closing the
company," Sindi said.

Like many other similar arisan chain savings systems, the
Danasonic scheme has attracted people from various social and
educational backgrounds, including people in the banking industry
and in universities all over the country.

The scheme requires new participants to pay Rp 10,000
(US$4.50) to the participants whose names are listed at the top
of a coupon and at fifth (last) place.

The newcomer confirms the transaction by sending Rp 11,000 to
PT Saptamitra Ekakarya as an administrative fee. The company then
sends the newcomer four more coupons with his name listed at
fifth place.

The name previously listed at first place is removed, with the
other four names respectively moving up on the list.

If the newcomer succeeds in selling the four extra coupons, at
Rp 10,000 each, he receives Rp 9,000.

Later, if buyers of the person's coupons can sell them to
others, it is possible for him to earn up to Rp 10.24 million.

According to the head of the police's Economic Crimes
Investigation Division, Lt. Col. Aryanto Sutadi, tentative
investigations suggest that the scheme has attracted about 10
million participants nationally.

Company executives put the total number of participants at
500,000.

Based on their preliminary findings, city police have seized
money sent by newcomers to the company's post office box and have
frozen the accounts held by the company at several Jakarta banks.

Sindi said that the money so seized by police may already have
exceeded Rp 1 billion.

"We just want to make sure that the money sent by the people
can be easily confiscated in the future if our investigation
strongly indicates that the company's executives have cheated the
public," Aryanto said.

According to Bambang, the company's executives have mistakenly
used a license which is not intended for such a business.

"We want the local trade affairs office to withdraw the
licenses issued to the company," he said.

Bambang also alleged that the company's executives had been
evading tax.

A number of regional police headquarters, including the West
Sumatra police, have also begun investigating Danasonic
activities in their areas. (bsr)