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Office of state-owned insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwasraya in Jakarta (Tempo/Tony Hartawan)

WanaArtha Life’s securities accounts blocked by AGO in Jiwasraya trickle down effect

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State-owned insurer PT Asuransi Jiwasraya’s ailments seem to have infected another insurer in the country as its investment mismanagement case has also disrupted privately owned insurer PT Asuransi Jiwa Adisarana Wanaartha’s (WanaArtha Life) business.

In a letter to its policyholders on Feb. 12, WanaArtha Life president director Yanes Matulawata confirmed that the insurer’s securities accounts had been blocked by the Attorney’s General Office (AGO) in connection to its investigation into a corruption case pertaining to Jiwasraya's fund management.

The blocked accounts had disrupted the insurer’s payment of policyholders’ claims, he added.

“The management deeply understands the policyholders’ concerns and we apologize because we can’t fulfil the policyholders’ claims at this time following this unexpected event that is out of our control,” Yanes wrote in the letter.

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Despite the incident, WanaArtha Life assured its policyholders that the policy benefits in the insurer were safe and that it was trying to handle the situation with the AGO, OJK and other relevant authorities to lift the blockade.

“We will gradually pay the policyholders’ claims in the next 14 working days after the blockade has been lifted by the authorities,” said Yanes.

The AGO last month instructed the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the country’s bourse authorities to block 800 securities accounts as it investigated Jiwasraya’s investment mismanagement that caused the state-owned insurer to fail to pay Rp 16 trillion of its policyholders’ claims.

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AGO uncovers millions of suspicious transactions involving Jiwasraya’s investment instrumentsDeputy attorney general for special crimes Adi Toegarisman said the AGO had initially uncovered 55,000 suspicious transactions among Jiwasraya’s stock investments. However, as the investigation progressed, the office discovered millions of such transactions, according to AGO director of investigations Febrie Adriansyah.News Desk, 12 Feb 2020

“We received an informal report on Jan. 21 saying that our securities accounts had been blocked,” Yanes said in the letter to policyholders. The insurer then informed the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the Indonesian Central Securities Depository (KSEI) about the report.  

He went on to say that the insurer had tried to provide clarification to the AGO. The authority then questioned one of the insurer’s board of directors as a witness in Jiwasraya’s case.