Uber cars confiscated by police

JAKARTA. The Jakarta Police seized five Uber cars and held the drivers for questioning on Friday following a report filed by the Jakarta Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) on Feb. 24 against the company.

Uber, which was launched in Jakarta on Aug. 13 last year, provides services through a mobile application that allows users to hire drivers for private rides or to arrange rideshares with other users.

According to a copy of the police report obtained by The Jakarta Post, the Organda reported the Silicon-Valley-based company for fraud, information and electronic transaction crimes and money laundry.

Transportation Agency head Benjamin Bukit said on Friday at the Jakarta Police headquarters that the confiscation happened after a team, which involved the agency, the Organda and the Jakarta Police, deliberately ordered eight cars using the Uber mobile application and asked the drivers to transport them to the police headquarters.

Five cars showed up and were confiscated and the drivers were questioned, while the other three did not show up.

“The company violates several Indonesian laws, such as the 2009 Traffic and Land Transportation Law, the 2014 government regulation on transportation and the 1991 gubernatorial regulation on taxi operations. We don’t even know where the company’s office is,” he said, adding that a proper taxi had to be operated by a legal entity, have an operational license, taxi meter and logo and not use private or black-plated cars.

Jakarta’s Organda chairman Shafruhan Sinungan said on Friday that besides having no proper licenses, Uber also charged its customer using a credit card payment system, which sent payments to an overseas company.

“There is a possibility that the company does not pay taxes,” he said.

Shafruhan went on to say that several licensed taxi companies complained to his office, saying Uber had disrupted their businesses.

Jakarta Police cyber crime unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Suharyanto said that currently the police was still investigating.

Having been established in 2009, Uber has operated in more than 300 cities around the world and also faced some licensing problems in several countries, such as Australia, Germany, the US and Canada.

In Toronto, Canada, the city hall and the courts were in a conundrum on whether the debate between Uber and taxi licensing should be resolved in the court room or simply through regulation of the technology.

Uber spokesman for South Asia and India Karun Arya said in a press release issued on Friday that the company refused to be called a taxi company as the company’s cars were not taxis.

“Uber is a technology company that operates vehicles or employs drivers. The company’s platform connects a rider request to a partner from a licensed, for-hire chauffeur-driven transportation company,” said the release.

Arya said that every vehicle in Jakarta on the Uber platform was a registered for-hire car with full commercial insurance and met all local licensing and registration requirements, including all applicable local tax laws.

“Uber Asia has a licensed and registered office in Jakarta,” he said, adding that his office stood by the arrested drivers and would help them resolve the matter amicably.

Separately, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said that he urged Uber to officially register its business. “We also need to know where its office is, as well as its tax records,” he said.

Ahok said the city administration supported similar companies like Go-Jek and Grabtaxi as they had fulfilled requirements and Go-Jek, especially, helped the city to ease congestion. (Corry Elyda)