Police arrested director of CSI

JAKARTA. Financial Service Authority (FSA) is taking firm stance against illegal investment companies. Recently, FSA and the Investment Alert Task Force declared the activities of PT Cakrabuana Sukses Indonesia (PT CSI) are illegal,

Chairman of the Investment Alert Task Force Tongam Lumban Tobing said that police has caught two executives of PT CSI Mohamad Yahya and Iman Santoso in Cirebon, Friday (25/11).

They are alleged to involve in money laundering crime. “We suspect that 70,000 people have joined with CSI. In other words, there were Rp 700 billion funds collected,” Tongam told KONTAN, Tuesday (29/11).

PT CSI offered investment packages in four business lines, namely financial consulting, business and investment consulting, physical precious metal trading, and travel consulting with the initial investment amounted to Rp 50 million per customer. PT CSI offered a 5% passive yields per month.

Previously, the Ministry of Cooperative and Small Medium Enterprises had conducted investigations over Sharia Saving Loan and Financing Cooperative (KSPPS) BMT Madani Nusantara and KSPPS BMT Sejahtera. In this case, PT CSI collected public funds through those two illegal cooperatives.

Ministry of Trade also found that PT CSI has abused its business license for operating a ponzi scheme, which offered a 0.05% yields from the investment value of a new recruited member.

Tongam called people, mainly Cirebon residents, not to join with PT CSI or other illegal investments.

Previously, FSA has aborted the activities of Pandawa Group or Saving and Loan Cooperative (KSP) Pandawa Mandiri. The founder, Salman Nuryanto has been asked to refund the customers’ funds.

FSA had also handled the case of Dream For Freedom. The founder, Fili Muttaqien is now undergoing legal process. Subsequently, the Task Force is targeting Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM).

“Based on the recommendation from the Task Force, we declared that the activities (of MMM) are illegal,” Tongam said. The Task Force has also suggested the Ministry of Communication and Information to block MMM website. Unfortunately, to date MMM is still active.

Financial Planner at Finansia Consulting Eko Endarto suggested public to be cautious before deciding to invest. In this case, public has to look at the yields offered. Eko said that the investment is unreasonable if it offers too high yields. “It may be operating a ponzi scheme,” he said. A ponzi scheme requires customers to recruit new members to gain high yields.

It is also essential to check the investment’s legality with the FSA.

(Muhammad Farid/Translator)