Police investigate fraud by two education foundations
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)