Police detain court receiver in Manulife case

Police detain court receiver in Manulife case

JAKARTA (JP): The police said on Tuesday that they had
detained the court receiver in an alleged sales scam involving
insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI).

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said that
court receiver Ari Ahmad Effendi had been held in detention since
Thursday last week.

"We have put Ari Ahmad Effendi, into police custody since
Thursday. His detention will be effective until Dec. 26," Saleh
told The Jakarta Post.

The police have so far detained two out of six suspects, whom
are alleged to have facilitated the sale of a 40 percent stake in
AJMI by using duplicated shares.

Last month, the police detained AJMI's vice president Adhie
Poernomo, whom they later released.

"Adhie has released from police custody since Nov. 20, but he
can still be questioned anytime," Saleh said.

The Manulife case centers around the sale of a 40 percent
stake in AJMI by the Jakarta Commercial Court to the Canadian-
based insurance firm Manufacturer Life Insurance Co. (Manulife)
through a tender process.

Manulife paid Rp 170 billion for the 40 percent stake, which
would raise its ownership in its joint venture AJMI to 91 percent
from 51 percent.

The shares were previously held by PT Dharmala Sakti
Sejahtera, which the Jakarta Commercial Court declared bankrupt
in June.

Ari was the court receiver that organized the tender to
auction Dharmala's stake in AJMI to help creditors recoup their
loans.

However, the tender was disputed by the Virgin Islands-based
Roman Gold Assets Ltd., which claimed it had already bought the
40 percent stake from Dharmala in an earlier agreement.

The company argued it owned the original shares, accusing
Adhie and Ari of duplicating Dharmala's shares in AJMI.

Roman reported its suspicions to the police, who then detained
Adhie and Ari.

The other suspects are Mitchel David New, who acted as the
buyer, Kusmartono, who conducted the tender, Victor Apps, the
president of AJMI and Syamsuddin M. Sinaga, the judge in
Dharmala's bankruptcy case.

Saleh further said that the National Police Headquarters had
sent the dossiers of three suspects in the alleged sales scam to
the Jakarta High Court late last week, where they will be
processed before being handed over to the designated district
court.

The dossiers, he said, were of Ari Ahmad Effendi, Kusmartono,
and Adhie Poernomo Widjaya.

"We are still in the process of completing the dossier on
suspect Mitchell David New," he added.

The Jakarta High Court reviews police dossiers to decide
whether a case is strong enough to proceed to court.

Otherwise, the police will continue their investigation,
including the questioning of the three suspects, in order to
present a valid case to the court.

Sources close to the tender process said that two senior
officers at the police headquarters had threatened Dharmala's
former creditors by saying that they would be included in the
list of suspects.

According to them, the police intended to interrogate top
executives of Dharmala's 23 creditors.

These include large foreign banks such as Standard Chartered
Bank, American Express Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

But Saleh denied any plans to expand the list of suspects to
the creditors, saying that the police were only focussing on the
current list.

The handling of the Manulife case received wide criticism, in
particular from the Canadian Finance Minister, who had sent a
letter of protest to his Indonesian counterpart.

In response to the case, the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
(Bapepam) conducted its own investigation into the case involving
Dharmala, which had been a publicly listed company.

Bapepam questioned the Power of Attorney with which Dharmala
sold its 40 percent stake to Roman Gold.

"Dharmala management's failure to notify its auditors, Bapepam
or the public of the existence of an important document such as
the power of attorney, is a violation of the capital market
regulation," the agency said.

AJMI filed last month the very same criminal charges of
forgery against Suyanto Gondokusumo, the principal of Dharmala,
and Roman.

AJMI argued that by law, the assets of a bankrupt company was
subject to the court receiver's supervision. Thus any asset sales
outside that conducted by the court was illegal.

Roman has said that it bought Dharmala's shares in AJMI in
Oct, long after Dharmala was declared bankrupt.

The police however, has yet to report any progress on AJMI's
criminal suits.(bkm/ylt)