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.