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Citibank to sue former manager Malinda Dee

Citibank Indonesia said it would file a civil lawsuit against its former employee Malinda Dee, who is currently under police investigation for allegedly embezzling money from premium clients of the international bank

Hans David Tampubolon and Esther Samboh (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, May 12, 2011

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Citibank to sue former manager Malinda Dee

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itibank Indonesia said it would file a civil lawsuit against its former employee Malinda Dee, who is currently under police investigation for allegedly embezzling money from premium clients of the international bank.

Citibank was scheduled to file the suit at the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday but delayed the suit, citing an administrative lapse. Citibank said the purpose of the suit was to recover losses that it suffered because of Malinda’s actions.

“We are committed to filing a civil lawsuit against our former employee, Malinda Dee, to recover losses in connection with her [suspected] fraudulent activities. However we have decided to push back the filing date,” Citibank Indonesia corporate affairs chief Ditta Amahorseya said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Ditta said that Citibank’s team of lawyers still needed to complete their legal documents.

“We are currently finalizing the legal documents. Citibank has zero tolerance for fraudulent behavior committed by any employees, as customers’ trust is our top priority. We have already filed a criminal complaint against Malinda Dee, for which she remains in police custody, and we will continue to cooperate fully with the police investigation,” Ditta said.

Malinda allegedly embezzled at least Rp 17 billion (US$2 million) from Citibank customers and laundered the proceeds through material purchases and an investment company.

Malinda’s fraudulent practices were discovered by Citibank’s management, who then reported her to the police. In the wake of the revelation, strings of controversies hit Citibank.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) found indications that public officials were among Malinda’s clients in Citibank’s Citigold program, which requires customers to have a balance of at least Rp 500 million. This has lead to allegations that money laundering practices had taken place in the bank.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has also imposed sanctions on Citibank, following the death of one of its credit card customers, Irzen Octa, who collapsed during a meeting with debt collectors hired by Citibank to settle a bad debt.

Bank Indonesia has decided that Citibank would be barred from issuing credit cards to new customers for the next two years. The bank has also been prohibited from signing up new customers for its premium wealth services for one year.

BI also ordered Citibank not to use third-party debt collectors for two years and has banned the bank from opening new branch offices until next year.

On Wednesday, a BI top official said that the central bank was currently laying out “prudential guidelines for private banking” in the form of a new BI regulation (PBI).

BI deputy governor of banking research and regulation, Muliaman Hadad, said that the rulings already existed, but needed to be integrated into one detailed and more stringent ruling.

“Now we are focusing more on the prudential regulations, how to run private banking services prudentially. Banks manage people’s money, so they need to be careful. Risks must be managed well, as well as internal control,” Muliaman said.

He said that implementation of banking regulation and standard operating procedures (SOP) were still lacking because of weaknesses in the first line of defense — banks’ operational staff.

Lawyer O.C. Kaligis, whose law firm has been appointed as the legal representative of Malinda, did not return a call from the Post on Wednesday. Kaligis also represents Octa’s family in a civil suit against Citibank.

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