Bapepam Wins Bank Indonesia Support to Probe Crooks’ Bank Accounts

Jakarta Globe, Yohanes Obor, April 02, 2010

The Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency announced on Thursday that its proposal to access bank-account details of individuals under investigation for financial crimes has won the backing of Bank Indonesia.

Fuad Rahmany, chairman of the agency, which is also known as Bapepam-LK, said the plan was in line with international standards allowing regulators to request the information to help track criminals.

“This proposal is contained in the amendment of the Capital Markets Law and the central bank, as the regulator of the banking industry, has agreed [to it],” Fuad said.

Not being able to access the bank accounts of those being investigated for capital markets has often made Bapepam’s job of investigating such crimes more difficult.

Bapepam is in the process of amending the 1995 Capital Markets Law and expects to forward a draft of the amended measure soon to the House of Representatives in a bid to obtain lawmakers’ approval this year.

It is also proposing in the amendment to stiffen sentences and ensure that people found guilty of embezzling investors’ money are forced to return the stolen funds.

Fuad said the amendment to the Capital Markets Law was essential because the current law had failed to provide the regulator with the appropriate tools to tackle white-collar crime in capital markets effectively.

“Many investors have suffered from crimes taking place in the capital markets, while the criminals only faced a few years in jail,” Fuad said, adding that investors who were robbed never had their money returned.

He said Herman Ramli, former chief commissioner of brokerage PT Sarijaya Permana Securities, and Robert Tantular, former owner of Bank Century, had been only been fined lightly jailed for two years and five years ,respectively. This was not appropriate punishment given the huge amount of money they had stolen from investors, Fuad said.

Ramli embezzled Rp 245 billion ($27 million) from about 8,000 clients, while Tantular embezzled Rp 2.75 trillion from Bank Century depositors who had invested in unlicensed discretionary funds offered by the bank’s affiliate brokerage PT Antaboga Delta Sekuritas.

It was important to ensure that investors in capital markets were able to have their money returned in cases of fraud, because otherwise they would be deterred from investing in future, Fuad said.

Robinson Simbolon, Bape pam’s head of legal and regulatory affairs, said the agency was also proposing in its Capital Markets Law amendment a maximum jail term of 20 years for those who had embezzled investors’ money.

“We have proposed a fine up to Rp 50 billion and require that people who have embezzled investors’ funds return 100 percent of the money,” he said.