tirto.id - How much money was in the First Travel’s accounts? How many accounts did Andika Surachman, Anniesa Hasibuan, and Siti "Kiki" Nuraida Hasibuan (Anniesa's sister) have? How did the court finally conclude that there was “only” Rp6.4 billion left in the 35 bank accounts that were "seized by the state" in the First Travel money laundering case?
For a month, the Tirto In-depth Team had been studying a copy of the 1,318 pages-long decision document of the First Travel money laundering case that ensnared Andika, Anniesa and Kiki. The Depok District Court sentenced the three to serve in prison on May 30, 2018. Andika was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison, while Anniesa and Kiki were 18 and 15 years respectively.
The case that began a year ago is one of the largest criminal cases handled by 29 investigators from the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri)—mobilising almost all resources from the directorate of general crimes (Direktorat Tindak Pidana Umum).
In our previous reports, Tirto traced the process of First Travel’s assets transfer that for the most part went to Andika's business partner (Umar Bakadam). We also traced the company’s investment in London, in the form of a restaurant called Nusa Dua, which involved a couple named Usya Soemiarti & Firdaus Ahmad.
The transfer of these assets, both movable and immovable, sparked questions, particularly during the confiscation process. Note that not every purchase of houses, investments, cars and restaurant was under the name of Andika or his family. Some used third-party names.
For now, let us focus on the sum of money on the bank accounts. Based on the copy of the court’s decision, there were 38 accounts investigated by Bareskrim Polri. These accounts come from a host of banks, including Bank Mandiri, BRI, Maybank and Permata.
Of the 38 accounts, investigators confiscated 35 among which 18 are under the name of PT First Anugerah Karya Wisata (First Travel); three of PT Anniesa Hasibuan Fashion; three others of respectively PT Anugerah Karya Teknologi, PT Interculture Tourindo and Yayasan First (First Foundation). There are three more accounts under the name of Andika Surachman; another three under the name of Anniesa Hasibuan; and five under the name of Kiki.
It should be noted that Andika and his family mixed their personal wealth with the money of First Travel’s customers in their personal and the company’s bank accounts.
Umrah customers' shrinking fund
Of the First Travel’s 18 accounts, only three that regularly received deposits from prospective Umrah customers. However, the three accounts were only transit points because the money would quickly be transferred to First Travel's main account (Bank Mandiri Margonda Depok Branch 157-00-0323994-5).
"As long as I can recall, [it was] only the main account of First Travel, numbered 157-00-0323994-5," said Ernawati, a Bank Mandiri employee, as cited in the document.
According to the document, the main account held Rp1,319,535,402,852 that came from 93,295 Umrah customers who were listed in the First Travel’s VIP, regular and promo Umrah packages.
Thereafter, Rp414,202,402,852 was deducted from Rp1.3 trillion. It was used to dispatch 29,985 Umrah customers to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. As the result, the remaining balance in the main account was Rp905,333,000,000.
However, it should be noted that this result of Rp905.3 billion is derived from the investigators’ generalised estimation that there were 63,310 customers (subtract 29,985 from 93,295 customers) who paid First Travel for the Rp14,3 million Umrah package. In fact, there were seven Umrah promo packages in the span of two years period that was being investigated—January 2015 to July 2017.
The remaining funds then flew into various accounts, including the ones owned by Andika, Anniesa, Kiki and their company. The total of the funds is Rp872,678,291,547.
Referring to this calculation, the money in the First Travel's main account should be Rp32,654,708,452. However, in the copy of the court’s decision, the remaining balance in the company’s main account was "only" Rp203,584,263.
Only Rp229,692 left in Andika’s account
Still from the document, during January 2015-July 2017, there were transfers from the First Travel’s main account to Andika's account (Bank Mandiri Margonda Depok Branch 157-00-8888000-1), which totalled Rp853,342,261.000.
Money transfers from the said main account also went to the accounts of Anniesa, Kiki Hasibuan and some third parties in a total of Rp1,959,757,850. The document also mentions Usya Soemiarti's name as a recipient.
"One of the overseas transactions went to Usya Soeharjono’s account in London, around Rp14 billion," said Ernawati. The transactions occurred from June 9, 2015, to January 6, 2016.
As mentioned above, and in our reports, Usya is the owner and manager of Nusa Dua Restaurant, an Indonesian establishment located in the centre of City of London. Usya had been receiving money from First Travel’s bosses, Andika and Anniesa, from 2014 to 2016, all totalling Rp24 billion. In addition to investment purposes for this restaurant, which is worth Rp12 billion, the money was used to pay for Anniesa's fashion show and Andika-Anniesa's holiday expenditures in London.
Meanwhile, between February 6, 2014, and July 25, 2017, the fund in Andika’s account had several transactions with a number of accounts, which include transfer payments, cash withdrawals, the purchase of two car units and two subsidiaries, with a total of 16 transactions, reaching a total of Rp93.9 billion.
The two subsidiaries were meant to expand First Travel’s business. The first one is PT Hijrah Bersama Taqwa that First Travel acquired in early 2016. The plan was that this company would take over the customers’ visa handling management that previously had been in the hands of third parties, in this case, First Travel’s business partners.
The second one is PT Interculture Tourindo that tackles Umrah travels and visa provisioning service. Ali Umasugi, Interculture Tourindo President Director, said that Andika bought the company in April 2016. His intention, said Ali, "was to facilitate prospective First Travel Umrah customers in applying for their visa."
However, since the acquisition two years ago, Ali continued, the company has never dispatched Umrah customers because Saudi Arabia's Muassasah has not yet issued any permit for the company’s visa service. Muassasah is the Executive Agency of Hajj and Umrah appointed by Saudi’s Hajj Ministry. One of its tasks is to issue MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), a confirmation letter from the Hajj Ministry for prospective Umrah participants. Through MOFA, prospective Umrah and Hajj participants can apply for a visa to the Saudi Arabian Embassy.
The next transaction was a money transfer from Andika's account to Anniesa's with a total of Rp74.7 billion (October 17, 2014 - December 22, 2016). There were also some transactions between March 17, 2015, and May 12, 2017, which totalled Rp33.5 billion. During May 2016 until April 25, 2017, Andika's account received an additional Rp12.6 billion.
In the end, referring to this calculation, the flow of incoming and outgoing funds in Andika's account until July 2017 should have left a remaining balance of Rp663 billion. However, in the document, Andika's account remaining balance was only Rp229,692.
The question is: Where has the Rp663 billion "gone"?
Lack of transparency
With reference to the transactions flow of Andika’s account at Bank Mandiri Margonda Depok Branch, some irregularities call for attention. Among other things, there were only 53 transactions revealed during the three years period of transaction. In fact, Andika's account balance reached Rp853 billion.
According to the ruling of Depok District Court, there was only Rp6.4 billion in the 35 accounts that were "seized by the state". Still referring to the same document, the investigators returned three accounts with a total fund of Rp238,632,444. The reason is that the owner is not related to the First Travel money laundering case.
Bareskrim Polri Director General Herry Rudolf Nahak told Tirto on September 7, 2017, that the police returned one of the accounts because the owner "had nothing to do with Andika. So, we have to return it."
Meanwhile, based on our research and opinions from a forensic auditor, another irregularity lies in the inconsistency of investigators in disclosing the checking accounts of the 35 accounts investigated. For example, the investigators only revealed Andika's checking account from May 8, 2013, to February 28, 2017, as evidence in the trial despite Andika’s and Anniesa’s arrest in August 2017.
One of the investigators, Rivai Arvan, told Tirto that all of the checking accounts could not be printed because they rushed to comply with the 120-day deadline after suspects were being detained. Thus, he said, "we find it difficult to trace the accounts one by one." It was on the grounds of this rationale that investigators prioritised large accounts.
Rivai told Tirto that the Rp853 billion in Andika's account "had spread everywhere."
When Tirto questioned why the investigators only opened Andika's checking accounts until February 2017 (as recorded in the document), Rivai said that he did not clearly understand and that he “must use data" to answer it.
It means, there is approximately six months transaction period in Andika's account that the investigators did not reveal. Two other accounts that belong to Andika and Kiki received a similar treatment. Yet, it is different with regard to four of Anniesa’s accounts investigated by the Bareskrim. They opened these accounts’ transaction records until September 2017.
Nurharyanto, a forensic auditor from the Fraud Auditing Development Institute, whom we asked to rate our calculation method based on the court document, said that there was a six-month interval that has not been clearly addressed in the case of Andika's account.
He said that the investigators were supposed to open the checking account until the day when Andika-Anniesa were arrested, on August 8, 2017, as evidence.
"This means that these cutoff points are not connected," said Nurharyanto. He meant to say that the latest checking account as evidence was according to the day of arrest established by Bareskrim Polri as a single point.
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Disclosure: Based on the 1,318 pages-long Andika-Anniesa decision document, Tirto maps the exhaustive transaction flow of First Travel Umrah costumers’ funds to a number of accounts. You can see them on the links below:
- First Travel Main Account
- Andika Surachman Account
- Anniesa Hasibuan Account
- Siti Nuraida Hasibuan (Kiki) Account
- First Travel Account
This report is a translation of an Indonesian article entitled, "Uang First Travel 'Raib' Rp663 Miliar". Adhi Bhaskara translated this report, and Ninus Andarnuswari helped with copy editing.
Penulis: Reja Hidayat
Editor: Fahri Salam
