Petitioners’ witnesses taking oath before giving testimony at another judicial review hearing of Law No. 4 of 2023 on the Financial Sector Development and Reinforcement, Monday (09/11/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — Secretary-general of SP NIBA Bumiputera 1912 Irwan Nuryanto and chairman of the Victims Alliance of Wanaartha Life Johannes Guntoro Fistanio testified at the judicial review hearing of Article 8 point 21, Article 49 paragraph (5), and Article 49 paragraph (1) letter c Law No. 4 of 2023 on the Financial Sector Development and Reinforcement (P2SK) on Monday, September 11, 2023. This sixth hearing was chaired by Chief Justice Anwar Usman along with Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and the other constitutional justices.
As part of the workers and trade unions with approximately 1,400 members all over Indonesia, Irwan Nuryanto said the company had not compensated workers to the amount of 800 billion rupiahs due to financial liquidity issue several years ago. He outlined several legal avenues that he and other workers had taken to obtain their rights, such as sending letters several times in 2019, 2020, and 2022 to the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
In response to the high number of letters they sent to the OJK, on March 16, 2021 the Financial Services Provider (PJK) held a meeting with policyholders, insurance agents, and trade unions as well as representatives of Bumiputera 1912. At the meeting, the trade unions just found out that the OJK had sent a letter to the company to order it to form a committee to elect members of the company management. However, the company disregarded the order.
“There are criminal sanctions if the company did not comply. However, in reality, the OJK did not impose sanctions referred to in the order it gave,” said Irwan.
Due to the lack of response, trade unions also filed a criminal report to the Directorate of Economic Crimes of the Police Headquarters to respond to the OJK’s insistence on determining the statutory managers of AJB Bumiputera, which can endanger consumers due to the company’s financial condition. However, the report was rejected because only the OJK investigators can carry out investigation while the object of the criminal offense reported by the labor unions was not considered under the Police’s jurisdiction as stipulated by the P2SK Law.
Wanaartha Life’s Assets Seized by State
Meanwhile, Johannes Guntoro Fistanio, policyholder of PT Asuransi Jiwa Adisarana Wanaartha (Wanaartha Life/PT WAL) and chairperson of the Wanaartha Victims Alliance revealed his journey in seeking justice. Relying on his trust in the OJK for the establishment and licensing of PT WAL, he bought a policy with the company. However, in January-April, he was informed that all of the company’s assets worth nearly 4.7T were blocked and seized by the state. As a result, he cannot withdraw the policy that has been due. After a while, the insurance company filed a pretrial motion against the seizure of its assets, but the court rejected it. While the trial was ongoing, policyholders found that only 2.4T of the company’s total assets were seized.
“When we realized that we were being lied to, we started looking for more information. In August I started sending a letter asking for fair legal protection for policyholders. We wrote to the OJK, which protects consumers. But we are disappointed in the OJK because until this hearing take place, there has been no response from the OJK. We really need accurate and clear information,” said Guntoro.
In the letter, he asked the OJK to investigate the issue faced by Wanaartha policyholders. The letter was only replied seven months later and the response did not have any impact. As a result of the OJK’s slow response, on December 18, 2022, Guntoro filed a petition to the district court to question why the company’s assets were seized. In the trial, it was discovered that the OJK had previously audited PT WAL and it was OJK request that the company’s assets be seized. In addition, the OJK had also been aware of PT WAL’s condition before its assets were blocked in January 2020.
“Based on this valid information, we then filed a report with the Criminal Investigation Unit (Bareskrim) on February 16, 2021. The report and our documents were responded within 2 months and the case also immediately moved up to investigation and the company owner was identified as a suspect in October 2022. However, the owner ran out of the country and his location is currently unknown,” Guntoro said.
Because of this incident, he wrote to the OJK asking for a hearing. It took quite some time until the OJK was willing to hear the representatives of policyholders. The policyholders met with the OJK with concerns that PT WAL’s license could be revoked due to a change in business management in addition to the change in OJK’s management. The fact is that the change of OJK management has also exacerbated the already drawn-out issue. Another harsh truth is that PT WAL’s business license was revoked due to the company’s financial issues.
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The case No. 59/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by the Workers’ Union, Banks, Services and Insurance (SP NIBA) of mutual life insurer Asuransi Jiwa Bersama (AJB) Bumiputera 1912, I Made Widia, Ida Bagus Made Sedana, Endang Sri Siti Kusuma Hendariwati (Petitioners I-III), Bakhtaruddin (Petitioners V), and Muhammad Fachrorozi (Petitioners VI). The Petitioners challenge Article Article 8 point 21, Article 49 paragraph (5), and Article 49 paragraph (1) letter c Law No. 4 of 2023 on the Financial Sector Development and Reinforcement (P2SK).
Article 49 paragraph (1) letter c of the P2SK Law reads, “Investigators of the Financial Services Authority shall consist of: ... c. certain employees, who are given special authority as investigators as referred to in the Criminal Procedure Code, to investigate criminal acts in the financial services sector.”
Article 49 paragraph (5) reads, “Investigation of criminal offenses in the financial services sector can only be carried out by investigators of the Financial Services Authority.”
At the preliminary hearing on Monday, June 19, it was asserted that Petitioner I, a private legal entity, had been harmed since the P2SK Law had eliminated his constitutional right to defend its members’—who are workers and citizens—legal interests. They had suffered losses due to being unable to take legal measures through the police against crimes in the financial services sector, as was faced by AJB Bumiputera 1912. They could only take legal actions through sole investigation of criminal offenses in the financial services sector, which only the OJK investigators can do.
Petitioner I believes the P2SK Law have consequences of constitutional issues in terms of certain employee investigators of the OJK. It can be ascertained according to logical reasoning that under the P2SK Law, sole investigation of criminal acts in the financial services sector is potentially carried out by certain employee investigators of the OJK. If interpreted that sole investigation of such criminal acts can only be carried out by the OJK, this provision would have a direct impact on the legal interests of members of Petitioner I, which is under the OJK’s supervision.
Petitioner II believes the granting of sole authority to OJK investigators has resulted in the rejection of the criminal report he lodged and reflects legal uncertainty in the law enforcement process. He also alleges that the OJK has monopolized investigations in the financial services sector, thus being contrary to due process of law based on fair legal certainty, as guaranteed in Article 1 paragraph (3) and Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. It also reduces the authority of the national police as the main state apparatus tasked with enforcing the law, as stipulated in Article 30 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution. 30 ayat (4) UUD 1945.
Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Court grant their provisional petition and postpone the enactment of the P2SK Law until there is a court decision in the a quo case, during which Law No. 21 of 2011 on the Financial Services Authority will apply.
Also read: Court: OJK's Investigative Authority Requires Coordination with Police Force
Author : Sri Pujianti
Editor : Nur R.
PR : Muhammad Halim
Translator : Tahlitha Laela/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Monday, September 11, 2023 | 20:22 WIB 230