An unfortunate fate befell a customer of PT Bank UOB Indonesia. Jusuf W, as the guarantor of a debtor at Bank UOB’s Serang 2 branch, fell victim to a suspected extortion by a third party.
The third party mentioned here is an individual who bought a deed of cession (certificate of transfer of receivables rights) published by Bank UOB’s head office in Jakarta.
The story of the catastrophe that hits Jusuf was told by a source to jurnal–investigasi.com. “It all began as Bank UOB’s head office issued a deed of cession, which was later purchased by an individual named Gunawan Wihardjatanto”, said the source.
Bank UOB, prior to issuing the deed of cession, has informed Jusuf to pay off all credit bills amounting to 964,758,356 Rupiah (equivalent to 67,800 USD). If the debt is not paid within the specified time limit, Bank UOB declared that it would issue the deed of cession, which will later be offered to third parties.
This means that the rights to collect debts guaranteed by Jusuf would fall unto the hands of the third party who buys the deed. Additionally, a house certificate in Kebon Jeruk area, West Jakarta, which was handed over to the Bank as collateral for the debt, will also be transferred to the deed’s buyer.
As a note, Jusuf was dragged into the issue of bad credit at Bank UOB after he became the guarantor of the loan proposed by his younger brother and parents.
Then, on August 23, 2018, Bank UOB represented by Amin Wijaya as the cedent (assignor) and Gunawan as the cessionary (assignee), signed the deed of cession.
After owning the deed, Gunawan began acting up. He then cooperated with King David Property Indonesia to take arbitrary actions against Jusuf.
From the investigation of jurnal–investigasi.com, it was revealed that there are at least two actions carried out by the Gunawan and King David Property duets that allegedly violate the law. These actions were carried out to reap profits by utilizing the deed purchased from Bank UOB.
The first maneuver was, Gunawan through King David Property Indonesia secretly marketed Jusuf’s house to prospective buyers at the price of 3 billion Rupiah (equivalent to 210,800 USD).
Equipped with the house certificate that had been retained by Gunawan, King David Property Indonesia, without the knowledge of the debtor, vigorously tried to sell the house that was inhabited by Jusuf’s family.
Furthermore, Gunawan and King David Property Indonesia also executed another maneuver, namely contacting Jusuf to collect repayments for the debt, but at a requested value that was “strangling the neck” of the debt guarantor.
In a letter dated January 15, 2019, signed by Gunawan, the repayment value demanded was stated as 2.4 billion Rupiah (equivalent to 168,700 USD). This value is much higher than the principal debt plus the interest and fines that should be paid by the debtor.
Based on calculation by jurnal–investigasi.com, assuming that Gunawan received discount when buying the deed from Bank UOB plus the interest, the value of the deed is reasonable in the price range of between 700 million to 800 million Rupiah (or between 49,200 USD – 56,300 USD).
However, ignoring the positive law that protects and gives justice to every citizen, Gunawan and King David Property Indonesia insist on collecting the deed’s repayments at exorbitant price.
As a result, Jusuf and his family were left shocked and depressed. This was revealed by Jusuf when he was asked to clarify the information obtained by the jurnal-investigasi.com.
He did not expect his decision to become a guarantor to the debt at Bank UOB would end in a third party acting arbitrarily. Additionally, his willingness to pay off the deed at a reasonable value was welcomed by the cessionary with exorbitant prices.
“Our family is very worried because our only home has been unilaterally marketed by a property broker appointed by the deed’s holder,” Jusuf said sadly.
On the advice of a colleague, Jusuf is now considering taking legal action by reporting the cessionary’s arbitrary actions to Polda Metro Jaya (Indonesian Regional Police Force).
Revealing the Alleged Conspiracy
Based on the investigation of the jurnal-investigasi.com, the reputation of King David Property Indonesia in the cessionary property auction business is fairly well known. King David Property Indonesia is an old and accomplished player.
Meanwhile, to get clarification regarding the alleged act of extortion against Jusuf, on February 21, 2019, jurnal-investigasi.com sent letters to Gunawan and King David Property Indonesia requesting for an interview.
The letters were directly delivered to Gunawan’s residence and the office of King David Property Indonesia. However, until now, both Gunawan and King David Property Indonesia have yet to respond to the interview requests.
jurnal-investigasi.com then conducted further investigations to study in-depth the parties involved in the alleged conspiracy of extortion attempts against Jusuf.
A statement from Bank UOB is thus needed to elaborate the chronology of the deed’s publication.
As previously elaborated, the deed of cession was published by Bank UOB. Are there any parties within Bank UOB who cooperated with the cessionary? jurnal-investigasi.com is trying to uncover this.
jurnal-investigasi.com then sent a letter requesting an interview to Bank UOB Serang 2 Branch and Head office. Through the letter, five questions were asked.
Two of these questions inquire whether Bank UOB and Gunawan have often synergized in the practice of buying and selling of deeds, and whether during the sale of deeds to Gunawan the Bank has undertaken measures to ensure that the deed would not be misused or, in this case, be used as a tool to commit an act that may lead to commission of crime.
However, the management of Bank UOB refused to be interviewed. As a clarification, on March 15, 2019, Bank UOB sent a response in writing.
“We hereby inform you that the Transfer of Deeds Agreement has been signed by the parties in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations. Thus the position of PT Bank UOB Indonesia as the creditor has ended, and has shifted to the deed buyer as the new creditor, ”Bank UOB’s Corporate Communications Division wrote in its response.
Bank UOB Indonesia, he continued, no longer has the rights to do anything in relation to the credit, including mediation. “For matters relating to requests for repayment of debts of ex-debtors of PT Bank UOB Indonesia, they may contact the new creditors,” he concluded. (to be continued…)
