Jakarta, Nov 28 (ANTARA) - Antaboga Delta Sekuritas investors, whose money has been stolen and stashed abroad by the security company's owner Robert Tantular, could now hope with worries for the return of their money.
The assets worth Rp11.6 trillion , whose withdrawal caused the collapse of Bank Century, have reportedly been frozen overseas.
According to a legislator, the assets have reportedly been frozen so that what remains to be done is to make administrative arrangement before the funds could be taken home and be returned to the Antaboga investors.
"With Assets worth Rp11 trillion, I think the Antaboga investors should not worry about their money. What remains to be done is to settle administrative matters, take back the assets and paid them," Achsanul Qosasih, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission XI for financial affairs, said over the weekend.
The Antaboga case of asset flight to overseas has caused the collapse of Bank Century through which Antaboga has sold its security products to its customers.
Ailing Bank Century was later safeguarded by the government through the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS) with a bailout fund amounting Rp6.7 trillion. The bailout sparked public criticism and questions as it was disbursed without approval of the House of Representatives (DPR).
The bailout case would be looked into by a House inquiry committee that will be formed next month while assets flown abroad would be investigated by police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attorney General's Office (AGO) and Police must be able to retrieve immediately the assets stashed by Robert Tantular abroad.
"The assets worth Rp11 trillion and deposited by Robert Tantular in several countries should be traced and retrieved so that Antaboga Delta Sekuritas investors' stolen money could be refunded," Achsanul Qosasih said.
The embezzlement case of Antaboga Delta Securitas investors' money should be given a serious attention and a special treatment. Its handling must be separated from the bailout case because embezzlement is a crime.
"This is a clear deception committed by Rebert Tantular, former major share holder of Bank Century, through his security company Antaboga," Qosasih, a politician of the ruling Democratic Party, said.
He said that the case of Antaboga customers could not be settled with a bank case approach, much less if it is handled together with the settlement of Bank Century.
"So, the steps to settle Antaboga investors' problem is to freeze Robert Tantular's assets overseas, bring them back to Indonesia and pay the investors' money," he said.
The attorney general's office itself has stressed that it would focus on the criminal aspect of Bank Century. It will only handle Bank Century assets flown and stashed overseas worth Rp11.6 trillion.
"We are still focusing on Bank Century funds that have fled abroad," Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendy said. He said the AGO would only handle embezzled assets whereas the bailout funds provided to the bank did not involve any criminal elements.
After all, according to the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS), the bailout funds worth Rp6.7 trillion provided for Bank Century are taken from the premiums of its members.
Premiums paid by LPS member banks since September 2005 have totaled Rp12.5 trillion while its assets have accounted for Rp18 trillion. "So, if the amount is deducted by Rp6.7 trillion, the government's money would still remain intact," Executive Chairman of LPS Firdaus Djaelani said. Moreover, the government's capital participation in the LPS is only worth Rp4 trillion.
So, the main problem that has to be solved immediately is the assets flown and stashed overseas by Robert Tantular.
In this case, Qosasih said, the House Commission XI appealed to the people who were cheated by Antaboga Delta Sekuritas to do their best in helping the attorney general's office, the foreign ministry and police so that the assets stashed abroad could be sent back to Indonesia.
On the other hand, he said, the Bank Century bailout case should be handled by the House through an inquiry committee, which is expected to be established early in December 2009.
He said that the Bank Century and Antaboga cases should not be mixed up. Bank Century is not responsible for Antaboga investors. Antaboga investors only transferred their funds through Bank Century because Antaboga sold its products through the bank.
"The funds are not deposited at Bank Century but were transferred through the bank to Antaboga, which is as a security firm. So, the case of Antaboga and Bank Century should be separated ," Qosasih said.
He said that priorities should be given to the settlement of Antaboga case, and in this case the House inquiry committee could help investigate and solve the problem only in administrative form.
In the meantime, Eko B Supriyanto, director of InfoBank Research Bureau, has suggested that Antaboga investors lodge a lawsuit against Antaboga Delta Sekuritas.
They cannot ask their funds to LPS or to Bank Mutiara (Bank Century) because LPS only pays compensation for a banking product. Products guaranteed by LPS are only bank products such as savings, deposit and demand deposit. After all, products issued by Antaboga Delta Sekuritas are non bank ones.
"Because they are non-banking products, Antaboga investors' funds are not included in the LPS guarantee scheme. As a consequence, the bank and LPS may not refund the investors money invested with Antaboga," he said.***4*** (T.A014/A/f001) (T.A014/A/A014/F001) 28-11-2009 14:14:36 |
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