5 years sought for Citibank debt collector

JAKARTA: South Jakarta prosecutors demanded on Tuesday a five-year prison sentence for Humizar Silalahi, a debt collector hired by Citibank, for allegedly restricting the freedom of small-time politician Irzen Octa and abusing him.

“All primary charges against the defendant have been established,” prosecutor Nirwan Nawawi told the court, kompas.com reported.

Octa, a Citibank credit cardholder, went to one of the bank’s branches to complain about his reportedly inflated bill. He was allegedly interrogated by debt collectors and collapsed. He died shortly after.

Prosecutors said Humizar was not directly involved in the death of Octa in the Citibank office on March 29 last year, although he visited Octa’s house a day before his death to offer him a way out of his debt.

“His other role is that he informed Henry Waslinton as the leader of the field collector team about Octa’s arrival at the office,” Nirwan said.

Henry, Donald Harris Bakkara and Arief Lukman – all defendants in the case — then went to the office to meet Octa. Octa was later found collapsed in the office.

The trial was adjourned until next Tuesday for the reading of the defense statement.