Aakar said that the negligence stemmed from Jouska entering into a partnership with Mahesa Strategis, despite knowing full well that the firm was not properly licensed to broker stock or manage investments by the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

“We also admit our negligence in using a mutual agreement with clients to give Mahesa Strategis access to their trading accounts, instead of using a discretionary trading account,” Aakar said at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He also acknowledged Jouska's negligence in its standard operating procedure for communicating with clients, under which its advisors often acted as middlemen between Jouska's clients and partnering financial institutions, including Mahesa Strategis.

“This led many [clients] to believe that Jouska and Mahesa Strategis were related, when in fact they were not,” he said.

The OJK shut down Jouska and partners Mahesa Strategis and Amarta Investa in late July, following allegations that the three unlicensed companies —all with affiliations to Aakar— were illicitly providing investment management services.

None of the three companies were registered as investment management companies or securities companies with the OJK.

The allegations came to light in July when former Jouska clients came forward on mainstream and social media to state that they had lost hundreds of millions of rupiah in investments mismanaged by Jouska and Mahesa Strategis.

The clients said that most of their investments were used to buy shares in PT Sentral Mitra Informatika, whichhad lost 84.49 percent of its value since it was listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in November 2018 using the code LUCK.

The Indonesia office of the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants (IARFC) underlines that financial advisors may not manage client funds or trade stock in client portfolios even with the full discretion and consent of clients.

Although Aakar admitted that he owned a 70 percent stake in Mahesa Strategis, he insisted that that it was not affiliated with Jouska. He added that his involvement as a passive shareholder of Mahesa Strategis was intended merely to help "friends" and to provide startup capital.

“All I know is that [Mahesa Strategis] is a stock trading club run by experienced and licensed brokers from various securities companies,” he said.

Aakar said that Mahesa Strategis had reached settlements with 45 out of 63 Jouska clients who had filed complaints. In addition, 328 out of 1,500 current Jouska clients had agreed to a settlement with Mahesa Investasi.

“The total settlement reached Rp 13 billion. Some [clients] asked us to compensate their losses, while others asked Mahesa Strategis to buy back LUCK shares from them and trade them for other high-performing stocks,” he said.

Aakar also said that he was committed to settling all complaints from Jouska clients.

As regards the ongoing police investigation, Aakar said that he had only been summoned once for questioning. He also said that he had not received any formal notification from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) on its money laundering investigation. 

The PPATK announced in early August that it was investigating Jouska for alleged money laundering following revelations on its suspected involvement in illicit investment and fund management activities.

“Yes, the PPATK is investigating the Jouska case,” Dian Ediana Rae confirmed on Aug. 4 as quoted in by Tempo.co.

The PPATK chairwoman added that the center would actively investigate other cases of investment fraud that had been opened by the OJK’s Investment Alert Task Force.

Popular

Govt eyes September for mass relocation of civil servants to Nusantara

Govt claims 'mudik' 2024 traffic management a success

Public hopes swell ahead of election dispute ruling