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Maybank branch manager detained for allegedly stealing Rp 22 billion from accounts
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A man walks past a Maybank Indonesia branch office. (Kontan/Daniel Prabowo)
T
he National Police have detained a branch head of private lender Maybank Indonesia for allegedly siphoning off billions of rupiah from accounts owned by renowned e-sports athlete Winda Lunardi and her mother.
Investigators had named the manager of the bank’s Cipulir branch in South Jakarta, identified only as A, a suspect in the case, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen Awi Setiyono said. The victims suffered a total loss of Rp 22.87 billion (US$1.59 million).
“A is now being detained at the Tangerang District Attorney’s office [in Banten],” Awi said in a press conference on Friday.
The case started when the victims found out in February that the money that Winda and her mother, Floletta Lizzy Wiguna, saved in two Maybank saving accounts since 2015 had disappeared.
Floletta reportedly noticed something was amiss when she wanted to withdraw money in February and was told that she did not have sufficient funds. She was shocked to discover that only Rp 17 million were left in her account from more than Rp 5 billion she had saved. She immediately asked Winda to also check her saving account, and it turned out only Rp 600,000 were left.
They reported the case to police in May after claiming that their efforts to reach the bank had yielded no results.
Awi explained that the suspect had allegedly convinced the victims to open a term savings account with high interest at the bank, which was actually not part of Maybank’s service.
The suspect then allegedly used the data to move the money to several accounts belonging to his friends.
“He used the money for investment, rotated it for profit,” Awi said.
He added that investigators had questioned around 23 witnesses, including Maybank employees. They were currently tracking the branch head’s assets allegedly gained from the crime to confiscate them, in addition to tracing recipients of the stolen funds.
“Investigators have confiscated assets in the form of cars, land and buildings and are still tracing other assets,” Awi said.
Police charged A with violating Article 49 of the 1998 Banking Law, which prohibits forging financial records. The suspect was also charged with violating several articles of the 2010 Money Laundering Prevention and Eradication Law, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment and a Rp 10 billion fine.
The Jakarta Police also detained some of A’s friends alleged to be involved in the case, Awi said without giving further details.
In an official statement issued on Friday, the publicly listed lender said it had reported the case to the authorities and would leave the case to the legal process.
Maybank Indonesia president director Taswin Zakaria said the company was waiting for the ongoing legal process, adding that Maybank was also a plaintiff in the case.
“Maybank also asked for legal protection and an investigation of possible involvement of other parties,” he said, as reported by Kontan.co.id, adding that the lender had also carried out an internal investigation into the case.
Winda gained fame for playing the mobile online multiplayer battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and joined the Jakarta-based EVOS eSport team in 2019 under the Mobile Legends Ladies squad.
The 19-year-old also operated a YouTube channel with more than 352,000 subscribers, where she posted gameplay videos.
