Govt moves to protect agribusiness investors
Govt moves to protect agribusiness investors
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is to issue a ruling to regulate profit-sharing agribusinesses following the scandal involving PT Qurnia Alam Raya (QSAR), which has been accused of cheating thousands of members of the public.
Suharyo Husein, the business development director at the Ministry of Agriculture's Directorate of Cultivation and Marketing Supervision, said Thursday that the ministry, other relevant ministries and representatives of agribusinesses were drafting the regulation.
Aside from establishing the drafting team, the government had also formed a task force to resolve the dispute between QSAR and its investors, Suharyo was quoted by Antara as saying.
The task force would facilitate meetings between QSAR's management and investors to try to resolve the problem.
QSAR, which until recently was praised by many people, including many governmental officials, for its business innovations, started operation in 1997 and managed to raise around Rp 500 billion (around US$55 million) from over 6,000 individual investors, promising them huge returns.
The real QSAR saga, however, started several months ago when the company collapsed, leaving investors and their huge investments in limbo.
Investors -- comprising military officers, businesspeople, housewives, legislators and others -- fell for the company's attractive promises and hoped to gain hefty profits in a short period of time.
The company itself is located in the West Java town of Sukabumi and claims to own some 1,680 hectares of land, which it uses to cultivate agricultural products.
Starting in March, the company failed to fulfill its obligations as promised, sparking anger among investors, who are now threatening to seize the company's assets.
Company president Ramli Araby went into hiding after the company was unable to pay dividends to investors.
On Thursday, Ramli's lawyer Ahmad Bay Lubis said his client had asked investors to allow him to resume his business and reschedule the payment of the dividends.
"That is the best solution that can be offered by Pak Ramly," he said, adding that his client would came out of hiding soon to meet investors.