Indictment Coming Soon in Indonesian Debt Collection Death Case

The South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday that it will be soon presenting an indictment in a case that saw a man in Indonesia beaten and killed by debt collectors working on behalf of Citibank.

“It’s going to be submitted to the court this week. It took us quite a while since there was a lot of attention from the public, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t make any careless mistakes,” a prosecutor told the Jakarta Globe.

News of the killing broke in early April. Irzen Octa, a local politician, visited a Citibank branch to protest an almost $4,000 increase on his credit card billing statement.  Three Citibank debt collectors allegedly interrogated Octa forcefully, beating and eventually killing him.  Initial autopsy reports showed trauma to the man’s face and head. The three workers were arrested. Officials did not indicate whether any or all of them were the subjects of the forthcoming indictment.

The Indonesian government came down quickly on Citibank in the wake of the killing, noting that the financial giant had been improperly using debt collectors. Indonesian law prohibits the use of third party debt collectors only in certain circumstances. Citibank agreed to reforms, with the central bank suspending Citi from acquiring new credit card customers for two years and prohibiting the opening of branches for one year.

Octa’s widow has also filed a separate civil suit against Citi, seeking more than $300 million in restitution. She claims that Citi offered her a settlement of $6.7 million which was refused.