Rp164 Billion Foul Investments Suspects In Aceh Submit Pre-trial

The fraudulent investment pretrial hearing in Aceh / Antara

JAKARTA - The Banda Aceh District Court has begun hearing the pretrial lawsuit of two suspects for a Rp164 billion fraudulent investment over their determination as suspects by Aceh Police investigators.

The inaugural pretrial hearing was held at the Banda Aceh District Court, in Banda Aceh, reported by Antara, Friday, April 30.

The two suspects who filed a pretrial, namely Syafrizal bin Razali and Siti Hilmi Amirulloh binti Sukahar. The two are suspected of raising unauthorized investments through clothing sales company Yalsa Boutique.

The trial with a single judge, Dahlan, was attended by the legal advisers of the two suspects as the applicant, and the investigation team of the Aceh Police Special Criminal Investigation Directorate as the defendant.

In the trial, the single judge examined the pretrial material and the authority of the parties, both the petitioner and the respondent. Single judge does not read pretrial material, because it is considered read by the parties.

"We did not read it again. So, we gave the defendant the opportunity to give an answer to the pretrial material. The trial will continue until Monday, May 3," said Judge Dahlan.

The applicant's attorney, Muslim, did not want to say much when asked after the trial. He reasoned that he had to get permission from his two clients first.

Meanwhile, the defendant AKBP Erwan said that his party was ready to provide an answer to the pretrial at the next trial.

Public Relations of the Banda Aceh District Court Sadri said the applicant filed a pretrial requesting the court to cancel the determination of the two of them as suspects by the Aceh Police.

"Then, freeing the two of them from the detention center of the Polda Aceh, restoring the good names of both of them and returning their belongings which were confiscated by investigators," said Sadri.

Previously, Aceh Police investigators named and detained two suspects that allegedly invested Rp164 billion in fraudulent investments through clothing selling companies with the initials S (30) and SHA (31).

Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Aceh Regional Police, Kombes Margiyanta, accompanied by the Head of Sub-Directorate 2 for Banking AKBP Erwan, said the two suspects are owners of Yalsa Boutique, a clothing sales company.

"Detention was carried out based on the results of investigations by investigators. From the results of the investigation, it was found that there were more two pieces of evidence and witnesses against the alleged banking crime committed by the two suspects," said Kombes Margiyanta.

He said that in addition to evidence, investigators obtained expert witness testimony from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the banking sector, so that it fulfilled the elements based on Article 184 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Head of the Banking Sub-directorate of the Aceh Police Special Crime Investigation Directorate AKBP Erwan said investigators confiscated Rp46 million in cash, laptops, gold in various forms, 87 pieces of gold purchase documents, ATM cards, account books and other evidence.

"In addition, investigators have also confiscated a number of cars. All of the evidence is suspected to be the result of false investments by the suspect. The Aceh Police are still tracking the assets of the two suspects for their money laundering case," said AKBP Erwan.

AKBP Erwan said Yalsa Botique was an investment that was allegedly fraudulent, and had collected funds from the public in the form of deposits or investments of up to Rp164 billion. The investment was collected through 202 parties called resellers with about 17,800 members.

The collection of money from the public was carried out by Yalsa Boutique without having a business license from Bank Indonesia and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) from December 2019 to February 2021.

AKBP Erwan said the two suspects were charged under Article 46 paragraph (1) of Republic of Indonesia Law Number 10 of 1998 concerning amendments to Law Number 7 of 1992 concerning Banking and Article 2 paragraph (1) letter g, Article 3, and Article 5 paragraph ( 1) Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 8 of 2010 concerning the prevention and eradication of the crime of money laundering or TPPU.