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Citibank Debt Collectors Charged With Beating Clients To Death
JakartaGlobe
In Jakarta, Citibank's public relations staff must have put the banking giant's corporate slogan - "Citi never sleeps" - to good use over the past week as twin scandals involving an alleged beating death and a sexy swindler rocked the company.
First, a "relationship manager" employed by the bank for the last 15 years, variously known as Malinda Dee, Melinda Dee, Inong Malinda or just MD, was nabbed on March 25 after allegations came to light that she used her connections with her customers to steal about $2 million.
But Dee's alleged over-the-top stealing is one thing, leaving a customer dead inside a branch office after a run-in with debt collectors is quite something else.
On Tuesday, Irzen Okta, 50, the secretary general of a minor political party, the National Unifying Party (PPB), went into a private room at a Citibank office on a crowded main street in Jakarta and never came out alive.
Police said the room where Irzen met with two contract debt collectors and a Citibank employee to discuss his credit card debt ‑ the bank said he owed, with interest, more than $10,000; the victim put the figure at about $7,000 - was splattered with blood but it was unclear if the brain hemorrhage that took his life was the result of a beating or just fear, stress and intimidation.
The police have arrested the two debt collectors and a Citi employee as suspects in the case and they are trying to figure out how Irzen's blood ended up on the walls and curtains of the conference room.
The incident highlights the tough tactics of debt collectors in Indonesia. Credit firms, banks and others routinely hire thugs to go after deadbeats, leaving many people frightened of facing the agents if they get behind in their bills. Reacting to Irzen's demise, lawmaker Harry Azhar Azis, urged Bank Indonesia (BI) to issue regulations to reign in violent debt collectors.
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Comments
This is absolutely spoiling the image of the bank.This kind of incidence really causes the serious problem with the future of the bank.Such types of people should be terminated from the service.Thanks!
udage on May 13, 2011 1:34 AM
Many people, for a massive amount of factors, think debt collectors are some of the worst of the worst. Like any set, a bad apple tends to spoil the bunch and many of these hard-working folks go misinterpreted by many. A story about a debt collected calmly and without incident isn't very fascinating, and that's why it does not get reported on. I read this here: Debt collectors trying to polish image in media, personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog
MillerT on June 21, 2011 4:12 AM
