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Dutchman owed Rp 5b by ailing Jiwasraya among policyholders demanding money back
Johnny Mahtani is not the only foreign policyholder who has been affected by the liquidity problems surrounding the insurance company, which drew public attention and clients’ scrutiny following an announcement in October 2018 that it failed to pay out maturing JS Saving Plan policies worth Rp 802 billion.
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Pedestrians walk in front of the Jiwasraya Building in Jakarta on Jan. 15. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
M
ore policyholders of ailing state-insurer Asuransi Jiwasraya are demanding the return of the money they had invested in the insurance company, which has been hit by corruption allegations after it failed to pay holders of policies worth Rp 16 trillion (US$1.16 billion) that fell due in December.
Johnny Mahtani, a Dutch national who has been working for 20 years in Indonesia, was among some 50 policyholders who visited the Finance Ministry and Financial Services Authority (OJK) on Thursday to demand restitution of their investments.
The Dutch citizen said he had invested Rp 5 billion of his repatriation funds in Jiwasraya — one of the oldest state insurers in the country — and demanded that his money, along with the promised interest, be returned.
“I invested my repatriation funds from the tax amnesty program into the [Jiwasraya] JS Saving Plan product,” he said as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Read also: Govt parties scuttle plan to form Jiwasraya inquiry committee
“According to the agreement, our funds must be deposited for at least three years. They offered the product based on Bank Indonesia’s provisions and we could not pick and choose the products,” Mahtani said, “Jiwasraya was adamant when offering us the JS Saving Plan product because they’re owned by the government.”
Mahtani was not the only foreign policyholder who has been affected by the liquidity problems surrounding the insurance company, which drew public attention and clients’ scrutiny following an announcement in October 2018 that it failed to pay out maturing JS Saving Plan policies worth Rp 802 billion.
South Korean vice president of PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia, Lee Kang Hyun, and 47 other South Korean citizens visited the House of Representatives on Dec. 4 to lodge complaints about the postponement of payments of their maturing policies.
Lee said at that time that he had invested in policies worth Rp 16 billion in Jiwasraya, half of which had been paid back while the remaining Rp 8.2 billion was still with the company.
Since it launched an investigation into Jiwasraya late last year, the Attorney General's Office has named six people suspects of alleged corruption involving the state insurer, which authorities estimated to have caused Rp 13.7 trillion (US$1 billion) in state losses. (mpr)
