Probe on Sarijaya Securities?

It has been about 10 months now since the scandal and fraud at Sarijaya Securities was uncovered. Since that time all stock holdings have been returned to investors, but what about the cash they were holding in Sarijaya accounts?

The so-called police investigation was concluded some time ago according to my knowledge so what has come of it? How much of the purported Rp 240 billion has been recovered? Is there anything left to distribute back to Sarijayas' clients?

What of the civil court case in August of this year being brought by Sarijaya customers against the stock market authorities - what has happened to that?

What has happened to the so-called "Investor area" where clients can check their real account balances in real time to detect fraud quickly. It was reported on June 21 that only 69 out of 114 brokerage firms had signed this arrangement. Bad luck to investors in the other 45 brokerage houses who just have to trust the management I suppose, just like Sarijayas customers once did!!

And what has happened to potential investors that Bapepam said were going to buy out Sarijaya Securities and come to the rescue of their long suffering clients?

The message is loud and clear to all current and potential investors in Indonesia's capital market. Investigators beware - there is absolutely no protection for any cash balances that you may have sitting in these brokerage firms and as usual, no one knows anything.

This is a very poor situation in the respect that investors are actually investing in the jobs and growth of the real Indonesian economy by investing directly in Indonesian companies.

The government and in particular the Finance Minister should bring a speedy resolution to this matter and ensure that they accept responsibility through their so-called "regulators" Bapepam, KSEI etc. Until this matter is resolved and innocent investors are compensated, then the message must remain.

David Kluwen
Kuta, Bali