Police Charged Former CEO Allianz Indonesia

The Jakarta Police have charged two former executives of Asuransi Allianz Life Indonesia, a local unit of Allianz, the Munich-based insurance giant, with allegedly breaking the country's consumer protection law.

This is a rare case in consumer protection disputes in Indonesia, which are usually settled through the civil court.

The police charged Joachim Wessling, a former president director of Allianz Indonesia, and Yuliana Firmansyah, a former claim manager at the company, with allegedly preventing clients from claiming their health insurance money, Jakarta Police investigation director Adi Deriyan said on Tuesday (26/09).

According to Alvin Lim, a lawyer for two Allianz Indonesia customers, Ifranius Algadri and Indah Goena Nanda, the insurance company had asked his clients to provide complete medical records when making their claims, an additional requirement that is not stated in their insurance policies.

The insurance company allowed only two weeks for the clients to meet the requirement, but only informed them of the extra requirement four days before the deadline.
Allianz Indonesia then refused the clients' request to extend the deadline.

Under Indonesian Health Ministry regulation, hospitals are only obliged to provide summaries of patients' medical records, which meant the clients were unable to fulfill Allianz Indonesia's request, Alvin said.

The lawyer stressed that it is the insurer's duty to obtain his clients' complete medical records from the hospitals as part of a normal claim investigation process.

"What we are disputing here is not whether the claim is paid or not, but how [the suspects] processed the claim. There was an element of deceit," Alvin said.

The two suspects are now facing a possible five-year prison sentence if they are found guilty of deceiving the clients.

Infranius, whose Rp 16 million ($1200) claim to Allianz Indonesia from being hospitalized last year remains unpaid, said he is "very disappointed" with how the company handled his case.

"They said their claim process was simple, only needs 14 days. I fell ill last year with typhoid, but to this day my insurance claim still has not been paid," he said.
Indah Goena, who was hospitalized for food poisoning this year, said her decision to bring the case to the criminal court was never about the money.

"I was disappointed with their claim process. How come to get the money we have to breach the Health Ministry's regulation first?" she said.

Alvin said his clients are adamant that they bring their case before the criminal court to serve as a warning for other insurers. "It is their hope that other people will not have to go through what they went through," he said.

Allianz Indonesia said the company is aware of the case but is unable to comment since the legal process is still ongoing.

"We always act in accordance with the provisions in the policy and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. All requests and objections from customers are also treated accordingly," Adrian D.W., the head of corporate communications at Allianz Indonesia, said in a statement.