National Unity Party (PPB) treasurer Tubagus said his colleague Irzen Octa was “definitely murdered” at the site where he was interrogated by debt collectors at a Citibank branch in Menara Jamsostek, South Jakarta.
“He was definitely murdered at the scene,” he said Wednesday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Tubagus was the one who brought Irzen to the hospital after he was said to have passed out on the fifth floor of the bank's offices on March 29. Irzen had gone to the bank branch to complain about his credit card bill, which showed a total due of Rp 100 million (US$11,600), much higher than the Rp 48 million he had expected.
Tubagus said he had tried to call Irzen on his cellphone that day but received no answer.
“I called him twice but always got a busy tone. I finally texted him, ‘Jen, where are you?,’” he said. Tubagus had nicknamed his colleague “Jen”, short for secretary-general.
He got no response until 12:50 in the afternoon when his cellphone rang, showing Irzen's number.
“I thought it was Pak Octa so I immediately said ‘Assalamualaikum, where are you Jen?’,” Tubagus said.
But the caller was not Irzen. It was Arif Lukman, who said he was from Citibank.
“He said, ‘I'm not Octa, I'm from Citibank on the fifth floor of Menara Jamsostek. I want to ask if you have a number for any of [Irzen's] family members that I can contact?,’” Tubagus said.
Tubagus, astounded, asked the man why he wanted the number.
“He said, ‘Octa passed out.’” Tubagus, not knowing the number of any of Irzen's family, decided to pick his friend up at Citibank's offices.
Tubagus said when he got to the fifth floor of Menara Jamsostek at around 13:30 p.m. that day, people were crowded in the bank. He found a security guard who took him to an interrogation room.
“Above its door was clearly written “Cleo Interrogation Room”,” he said.
He went inside and was shocked to find Irzen lying on the floor.
“There was no breathing, underneath his nose was blood as if he had been punched, his hand was blue and there was a bruise underneath his right hand. When I lifted him onto a chair, I could see that the back of his head was flabby,” Tubagus said, adding that he also saw spots of blood on the wall and curtains in the room.
Tubagus said Arif and two debt collectors who are now named suspects in the case were present in the room.
“I told them ‘You are inhumane. If he fainted, you should have taken him to the hospital, don't just neglect him like this,’” he added.
He said Arif told him that there had been a quarrel in the room.
Tubagus then called a transportation company he owns and asked for an ambulance.
“Seeing me all busy, they said ‘No need, Pak, we have cars here,’” he said.
Tubagus rejected the offer and instead called South Jakarta Police's crime unit head Sr. Adj. Comr. Budi Irawan.
Some 20 police officers arrived at the scene half an hour later, Tubagus said. Irzen was then taken to Mintoharjo Hospital. “The doctor said he was zero, dead since one or two hours ago,” he said.
Quoting the doctor, Tubagus said Irzen had died in pain.
“There was foam in his mouth and he had bitten his tongue,” he added.
Irzen's remains were taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for an autopsy.
Tubagus said he did not know anything about Irzen's credit card bill with Citibank.
“I only know that he owned several credit cards but he never talked about it because that's personal,” he said.
