French Investors Become Victims Of Business Fraud In Gili Trawangan, NTB Police Investigate

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Police are handling cases of alleged fraud and embezzlement in the field of tourism cooperation with the victim of a French investor, David Alexandre Guy, who invested his business in tourism in Gili Trawangan, North Lombok Regency.

"Yes, the report is still in process," said the Head of Public Relations of the NTB Police, Kombes Arman Asmara Syarifuddin, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, September 4.

In the report, the French foreigner reported this alleged fraud and embezzlement case with the reported woman businessman from North Lombok Regency with the initials IA.

The reporter's attorney, Lalu Anton Hariawan explained that his client reported IA because he felt cheated by the cooperation agreement to manage lodging in tourist areas in Gili Trawangan.

"Initially, the reported party offered a cooperation agreement to rebuild the bunulo on land which he called his location," said Anton.

Because the reported party asked for support with the mode of reviving the tourism world after the 2018 earthquake, David Alexandre agreed to cooperate.

"The agreement took place on December 26, 2018. David through his company, PT Carpedian agreed to cooperate by handing over Rp1.1 billion to the reported party," he said.

In addition to handing over the cooperation agreement money, he explained, David Alexandre also spent money on renovating the bunulo along with lodging equipment.

"For renovations to the completeness of the Bungalo content, our client spent IDR 2.9 billion in capital," he said.

Renovations were completed in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, David Alexandre's efforts began operating at the end of 2021.

"Pada akhir tahun 2021 itu turun tim dari Pemerintah Provinsi NTB. Di sana baru terungkap kalau lahan itu berstatus hak pengelolaan (HPL) milik Pemprov NTB, bukan milik terlapor," ujarnya.

Knowing this, David Alexandre was disappointed with the IA. David also asked the IA to return all the interest facilities from the capital.

"When asked to come back, the reported party refused. Therefore, that is the material for our reporting to the NTB Police by reporting IA on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement," said Anton.

Following up on the report that has been submitted since May 2023, only today the police have asked David Alexandre for information.

"Yes, the request for information today is directly under the Sub-Directorate I Kamneg (State Security) Team of the NTB Police Criminal Investigation Unit at the NTB Police," he said.

In addition to asking for information from his client, explained Anton, the police have also made requests for information from a number of parties in Gili Trawangan.

"In the process of requesting information in the field, we were also present to provide assistance to our clients," said Anton.