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)