Bank's action

I am a customer of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII). On July 4, 1997, I opened a six-month time deposit with its branch on Jl. Thamrin, amounting to Rp 1,050,000,000 (one billion and fifty million rupiah). The expiry date of the deposit was Jan. 4, 1998.

Afterward, the deposit was used for a bank guarantee facility in the name of PT Korindo Engineering, which was working on a project owned by PT Sinar Lucky Plastic Industry (SLPI).

On Dec. 26, 1997, the deposit was withdrawn unilaterally by BII without my knowledge or approval. According to BII Manager Mieke K., the bank guarantee was claimed by PT SLPI, so that the deposit had to be withdrawn to pay PT SLIP's claim.

I went to the BII office on Jl. Thamrin to inquire about the deposit. The bank seemingly wanted to avoid talking about the matter. I sent letters to BII President Director Indra Widjaja on Jan. 8 and Jan. 15, 1998, but received no reply either.

The bank sent me, instead, a letter signed by Maya T. and Mieke K., saying that the deposit was legally withdrawn based on the consideration that I had signed a power of attorney to withdraw the deposit. The power of attorney was faxed to me and it proved to be an uncompleted form of a power of attorney signed by me at the time of the contract and was filled out by BII without my knowledge.

I have been trying to contact BII (in writing, on the phone and by going there myself) to settle the problem, but BII (Indra Widjaja and the BII board of directors at the Jl. Thamrin branch office) has always avoided me.

BII, which I formerly trusted as a big private bank, has shown itself untrustworthy. It can even delude a customer and make use of his weakness in BII's interest. Moreover, the bank cannot protect its customers, as shown by the too easy process of payment of a claim and not according to proper procedure. This indicates a collusion between BII and PT SLPI that belongs to the same group as the bank, the Sinar Mas Group.

By this letter, I lay my great hope on Bank Indonesia and the Federation of Private Domestic Banks to help solve this problem of a deposit withdrawn unilaterally by BII.

Customer's account number

3-06325.003-38946