Prosecutors receive Danasonic dossiers

Prosecutors receive Danasonic dossiers

JAKARTA (JP): City police have handed over the dossiers on the
controversial Danasonic savings scheme to the prosecutors'
office, along with an elderly couple known as executives of a
firm which ran the business.

"We've also been informed by the prosecutors office that the
dossiers will soon be handed to the court, to try the two
suspects on charges of fraud and forgery," head of the economic
crime unit of city police, Lt. Col. Aryanto Sutadi, told
reporters yesterday.

According to Aryanto, the dossiers equipped with adequate
evidence, including a check account worth Rp 640 million
(US$380,000), and strong witnesses, were accepted by the
prosecutors' office.

PT Saptamitra Ekakarya executives, identified as Sindi Husain
and his wife Anneke Kolondam, who were previously detained at
city police headquarters, are now being held at the prosecutors'
office.

Aryanto said police have urged that the suspects be charged
with violating at least four rules, covering document forgery,
fraud, operating a business with no legal permits and running a
lottery business without permission from the related agencies, as
required by the existing laws.

The couple could face up to five years' imprisonment if found
guilty.

Sindi and his wife, respectively commissioner and president of
PT Saptamitra, are believed to have earned billions of rupiah
during the three-year operation of their business throughout the
country. Police arrested them and closed their activities in
June, in response to mounting public concern over the massive
growth of the business.

Aryanto said that at least eight witnesses have been listed in
the dossiers to give their evidence.

"They include three participants of the scheme and
representatives from banks and social affairs, trade and post
offices," the officer said.

Police have frozen PT Saptamitra Ekakarya funds totaling Rp
640 million, sent in by new members of the scheme at a post
office and three banks, including the state-owned BRI, in the
city.

Earlier, Aryanto said that the State Administrative Court has
already "ruled in our favor", that the savings scheme, locally
known as Arisan Danasonic, is a form of gambling, which is
illegal.

Arisan is an Indonesian word for a periodic gathering of
a group of people to draw lots for an aggregate sum of money
contributed by the group's members.

Unlike the traditional arisan system, the Danasonic scheme
required new members to pay a Rp 11,000 administration fee to the
organizer and another Rp 10,000 to each of the two other
participants listed on a coupon.

New members were promised that they could receive up to Rp 10
million if they actively sold coupons to other people who were,
in turn, expected to become actively involved in the savings
plan.

Before the police intervened, Sindi claimed that about 500,000
people were registered as members of the scheme nationwide.

Police estimate that the actual number of participants in the
Danasonic scheme could swell to about 10 million people
nationwide, most of whom are said to live in remote areas.

"We know that there are still a number of similar arisan
saving schemes in the city," Aryanto said. "But we need strong
support from the public if they really want to stop such illegal
activities."

According to Aryanto, police have found that it is not an easy
task to close such an activity, and arrest the executives,
without support from the public.

"Many of the scheme's participants are unwilling to report the
case to the police, or to inform the media about the truth of the
situation," he said. (bsr)