Police pledge to solve blocked account case
Police pledge to solve blocked account case
JAKARTA (JP): Police promised yesterday to solve rapidly the
dispute between the Standard Chartered Bank office here and its
foreign customer whose Rp 1 billion (US$435,000) account has been
frozen by the bank since January.
"Today we plan to question a number of executives of the
HongKong Bank office here in connection with the case," National
Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurfaizi said yesterday.
"The investigation is still going on and we pledge to solve
the case immediately one way or the other," he said.
According to the one-star general, detectives of the economic
crime section are still collecting evidence to prove whether the
bank blocked its customer's account without following legal
procedures as stipulated in the country's banking rules.
"Even the police have to officially ask permission from the
Ministry of Finance for the blocking of an account owned by a
criminal suspect.
"Things must not be done at our own will. There are procedures
and laws in this game," Nurfaizi said.
Generally speaking, "the bank has violated the rules but we
have to compile as much evidence as possible," the spokesman
said.
According to Nurfaizi, the customer, Yee Mei Mei, a Hong Kong
national, filed a lawsuit against the bank for allegedly blocking
her account without justification four months ago.
On the other hand, the bank argued that it froze Mei Mei's
account on a suggestion from the central Bank Indonesia.
Nurfaizi, however, refused to explain the status of HongKong
Bank's position in the dispute.
"We have yet to complete the investigation first," he argued.
A reliable source told the Post yesterday that it was HongKong
Bank which had informed the Standard Chartered bank about the
possible connection between the cash in Mei Mei's account and the
recent fraud worth around Rp 100 billion (US$45 million) that
occurred at HongKong Bank recently.
Meanwhile Mei Mei's lawyer, Rusdi Nurima, told a press
conference yesterday that he suspected unhealthy business
competition might be behind the freezing of his client's account.
Rusdi, who is a representative of Dragon Bank in Indonesia,
said that the blocking could be related to two telecommunication
projects in Indonesia and China, the bidding for which a client
of Standard Bank is participating in.
He said that apparently the Standard Bank's client had failed
to win the contracts for the projects. He refused to identify the
client of the British bank.
According to Rusdi, Dragon Bank and the Indonesian company PT
Harapan Insani won the contracts worth US$4 billion.
"As a result the Standard Chartered Bank wanted to see my
client fail to finance the development contracts. So this is all
due to business competition. What else could it be if it's not
the case," he alleged.
Dragon Bank, whose headquarters is in Vanuatu, an island state
in the Pacific Ocean, claims to operate as an investment company
and not as a bank in Indonesia. Last year, it hit the local media
headlines due to a controversy over its legal status as a foreign
financial institution here.
Rusdi noted that under an agreement, Dragon Bank will finance
85 percent of the telecommunication developments, while PT
Harapan Insani will finance 15 percent.
For the first stage, the Dragon Bank would have to pay some Rp
750 million to PT Harapan Insani as part of its financial
commitment. (bsr/13)