Separate WanaArtha Life Funds In The Case Of Jiwasraya, OJK And BPK Encouraged To Hold Special Audits

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) is encouraged to carry out special audits or carry out investigations with a specific purpose, related to the Jiwasraya case which affects the fate of WanaArtha Life customer funds. With this step, it is hoped that customer funds can be separated from other funds in the Wanaartha securities account that are really related to the case.

"It's good, there is an audit of it. This is to see which customer funds are not. However, customers must be protected. Maybe they have urgent needs that depend on these funds," said the Economic Law Observer of the Indonesian Center for Legal Studies (PSHK). ) Muhammad Faiz in his statement, which was quoted on Friday 20 November.

According to him, as a financial authority, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) could ask the BPK to audit this case specifically, so that customer funds can be saved and the financial industry has a good reputation.

Although BPK itself has carried out investigative checks and State Loss Calculation (PKN) on the Jiwasraya case, a special audit to ensure that the funds involved in the case with customer funds are still possible. As stipulated in the Elucidation of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 15 of 2004, Concerning Audit Management and Accountability of State Finances.

"As a financial authority in Indonesia and a form of effort to protect consumers, the OJK and the Self-Regulatory Organization in the capital market should also communicate with the AGO regarding this securities account separation," said Faiz.

However, the news that surfaced actually showed that the internal coordination within the OJK itself, between the Capital Market Supervisor and the Non-Bank Financial Industry Supervisor (IKNB) was not well established. In the case of WanaArtha Life, the OJK IKNB Supervisor, seemed ignorant when the WanaArtha Sub Securities Account (SRE) account was frozen by the OJK Capital Market Supervisor.

"There needs to be an increase in the intensity of supervision, especially those related to onsite supervision and reviewing or evaluating the methods or methods of supervision that have been carried out by OJK," said Faiz.

Avoid the Victims

Likewise, Insurance Observer Azuarini Diah said, like in a company, the state is one very large company which of course produces many transactions that require a special auditor.

"Of course, all these transactions must be carried out responsibly. This is where BPK plays a role in examining these activities," he said.

Regarding the separation between funds suspected of being related to criminal crimes and WanaArtha Life customer funds, he agreed to do so as soon as possible. This is important so as not to further harm the community as a result of their investment funds being held hostage.

"Not to mention the declining public trust in similar insurance products," he exclaimed.

He emphasized that although the AGO's purpose of confiscation and account suspension was to secure the return of state losses due to the Jiwasraya case, it does not mean that all funds in the account, apart from the amount of state losses, are also frozen.

"Not everyone should be a victim and be involved with the cases that occurred, just because they bought shares that happened to be the same as those of Jiwasraya," he explained.

As is known, 13 SREs and 42 IFUA (Investor Fund Unit Accounts) WanaArtha began to be blocked by the Central Securities Depository (KSEI) as of January 21, 2020, upon the OJK's instructions requested by the AGO. If calculated, the securities value blocked by KSEI at that time was around Rp3 trillion.

It consists of the investment asset value of WanaArtha in shares of IDR 1.44 trillion and in mutual funds of IDR 1.54 trillion. Another source said that the frozen funds in WanaArtha's account reached IDR 4.1 trillion.

Due to this block, WanaArtha has difficulty paying the benefits of policyholders' claims. Then start defaulting in the following months. WanaArtha's own policy holders totaled 26 thousand policies, consisting of dual-purpose products and unit links.

Previously, in a virtual press conference, OJK admitted that it could not provide further information regarding the fate of WanaArtha Life customers or holders. The Chief Executive of the IKNB OJK Supervisory Committee, Riswinandi, said that currently discussions regarding capital injections and the legal process are still ongoing.

According to him, so far the OJK has held several discussions with shareholders and management of the life insurance company. However, shareholders have not been able to respond to the increase in company capital.

"Wanaartha has discussed several times, shareholders have not been able to give a response how to add capital, the legal process is still in effect, we are still observing [the process] is ongoing," he said.

Even though this is considered to have an impact on the industry as a whole, OJK admits that it still has to respect the legal process that is currently running.