Ferrari cars fueled lifestyle in Indonesia corruption case

JAKARTA - Reuters

Inong Malinda Dee, a former senior vice president of Citibank Indonesia, sits on the defendant’s chair during a district court hearing in Jakarta. Dee was sentenced to eight years in prison. REUTERS photo

An Indonesian court convicted yesterday a former relationship manager with Citibank for money laundering in a case involving Ferraris bought with ill-gotten cash that powered the lifestyles of a glamour-hungry clique.

A district court in South Jakarta sentenced Inong Malinda Dee to eight years in prison and a 10 billion rupiah fine in a measure of the seriousness of a crackdown on endemic corruption in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

The case shook up Indonesia’s investment banking industry and prompted regulators to ban the bank from adding new clients to its wealth management business for a year from last May.

Dee ordered 117 transfers each worth up to 2 billion rupiah ($223,000) from her Citigold clients’ accounts to her or her acquaintances between 2007 and 2011, prosecutors said during her trial.

The money was spent on cars by Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes and Hummer as well on as apartments and houses, prosecutors said.

The district court ordered two Ferrari cars, one Hummer and a Toyota 4x4 vehicles to be returned to Citibank as well as 1.6 billion Indonesian rupiah ($175,100) in cash.

“The defendant’s crime ran contrary to the government’s program of eradicating money laundering, which is a law enforcement priority,” said Judge Kusno in a prepared verdict statement read in court.