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View all search resultsCourt strips Malinda of her fancy lifestyle
It appears that 49-year-old Inong Malinda Dee — the former Citibank manager and now possibly Jakarta’s most notorious female socialite — will have to give up all of her lavish lifestyle after the South Jakarta District Court found her guilty of embezzlement and money laundering
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I
t appears that 49-year-old Inong Malinda Dee — the former Citibank manager and now possibly Jakarta’s most notorious female socialite — will have to give up all of her lavish lifestyle after the South Jakarta District Court found her guilty of embezzlement and money laundering.
The court not only sentenced her to eight years in prison but also ordered her to pay Rp 10 billion (US$1.09 million) in fines and hand over her fleet of luxury sports cars to the bank from which she swindled billions of rupiah to pay for her sumptuous and opulent lifestyle.
“The evidence — red Ferrari 430 Scuderia, Ferrari California, Mercedes Benz E-350, and a Hummer —must be given to Citibank,” presiding judge Gusrizal said as he read out the verdict on Wednesday.
He argued that the cars must be handed over to Citibank because it had been proven that Malinda had used her clients’ money to pay the installments on the cars, and that the bank had refunded all of the money embezzled by her to its clients.
The court also ordered her to return Rp 1.6 billion to Citibank.
A visibly emotional Malinda had not yet decided if she would appeal the verdict. “I’ll think about it,” she said with tears in her eyes.
The sentence is lighter than the 13 years in prison sought by the prosecutors.
Gusrizal said the sentence was mitigated by a lack of prior convictions, Malinda’s cooperation during the trials and the fact that she was the mother of a young child.
Malinda’s lawyer, Muara Karta, said the sentence was unfair, arguing that the decision was not taken based on the facts presented in the trials.
“This is unfair, her assets have been confiscated, her cars too, even though she made the down payments with her own money,” he said.
“We will consider an appeal. And we will also file a civil lawsuit against Citibank,” Muara said after the trial.
Prosecutor Tatang Sutarna was satisfied with the verdict, saying that the panel of judges had properly considered all the legal issues in coming to their verdict.
“We’ll see what will happen with the appeal in the next seven days,” Tatang said.
Malinda was found guilty of violating laws on banking and money laundering. Investigations discovered that she had swindled up to Rp 40 billion from 34 of the bank’s premium clients and had carried out 117 illegal transactions.
The clients complained that their money had been transferred out of their accounts in amounts ranging from Rp 20 million to Rp 1.4 billion.
Malinda’s husband, model Andhika Gumilang, 23, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and a Rp 350 million fine for abetting Malinda in committing her offenses.
The court also found several of Malinda’s relatives guilty of being accomplices, including her younger sister, Visca Lovitasari.
Visca was allowed to serve her custodial sentence under house arrest, given her good attitude during the trial and her two small children.
Malinda’s in-law Ismail bin Janim was sentenced to 44 months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 200 million.
Malinda’s embezzlement case was a major blow to Citibank’s reputation in the country, and her arrest last year shocked Jakarta’s high society.
