Police investigate fraud by two education foundations
JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta police will question executives of two private education foundations which are allegedly charging students millions of rupiah for nothing.
"We hope that this case can be solved by next week," a detective assigned to head the investigation, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday.
The officer, who asked not to be identified, said that the police would also question six students -- as witnesses -- on Monday to facilitate the probe.
He identified the two foundations as Yayasan Berkat Sarana Pendidikan (YBSP), chaired by Benny Setiadji, and Yayasan Pendidikan Indonesia Belanda (YPIB), chaired by Juangga M. Mangunsong.
YBSP is the owner of the Australian Business Education Institute (ABEI) at the Wijaya Grand Center, Blok A No. 12 A - B in South Jakarta, which was closed down by the foundation without warning. The foundation has reportedly refused to facilitate transferal of its former students to YBIP, which is said to have taken over the responsibility for the institute.
The students have been told by the Australian Cultural Center here that the institute has no affiliation with any education institutes in that country.
Yesterday, nobody was available at the former location of the institute to comment on the matter.
Over 30 students were registered to take several business and hotel management courses. Some of them are from foreign countries, such as Egypt, Malaysia, Russia and South Korea.
Five students interviewed by the Post said the school fees were Rp 800,000 (US$366) for the three-month course and Rp 3.6 million for the one-year course per person.
They said they had taken classes only few weeks, up to Aug. 11, before the YBSP suddenly closed down the institute without the students' knowledge.
"What we need now is to get back our money," said Liza, 20, who paid Rp 3.6 million for the hotel management class, but only got two weeks of lessons in return.
Slow
The students took the problem to the South Jakarta Police Precinct early this month after they found that YBSP had closed down its institute and handed over the teaching process for the students to YPIB on the basis of a legal document without the students' knowledge.
The paper, signed by Benny and Juangga, also stipulated the establishment of a new institution named Australian Business Education Center (ABEC) to be managed by YBSP.
The document was signed on Aug. 15, just three days after an announcement saying that the teaching-learning process at ABEI would be suspended until Sept. 4. The announcement said that school activities would be continued at the Wisma KPBD building on Jl. MT Haryono in South Jakarta, which is located near YBSP's head office at Wisma Pede.
However, the students said they could not meet Juangga nor any of the executives of YPIB to get a further explanation.
They said Benny also refused to be held responsible for the students' fate.
The students said that they have become frustrated with the slow progression of the investigation carried out by the South Jakarta police.
"The police officers also reminded us not to inform reporters of this case because they feared that the suspects might run away," Ricky, another student, said.
Should the suspects be taken to trial and found guilty of wrongdoing in this matter, they could face a maximum of four years in prison.
When asked to comment on the matter, the head of the criminal investigation unit at the South Jakarta police office, Capt. Charles H. Ngili, said simply it is not an easy case to deal with.
A reliable police source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that a number of foreign businessmen might be involved in the case, which he defined as white-collar crime. (bsr)