First Travel owners sentenced to 20 and 18 years after being found guilty of pilgrimage promo fraud

The Ka’bah in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred site.
The Ka’bah in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred site.

The infamous husband and wife owners of First Travel, a travel agency accused of conning thousands of customers out of billions of rupiah with broken promises about cheap Umrah pilgrimage packages, both received lengthy prison sentences today after being found guilty of fraud and money laundering at the conclusion of their criminal trial in Depok.

First Travel CEO Andika Surachman was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while his wife, Anniesa Desvitasari Hasibuan, was sentenced to 18 years.

Prosecutors alleged the couple knowingly sold Umrah pilgrimage packages at a discount price they knew couldn’t cover the cost, but used the deposit money from those who made later bookings to cover the difference until the scheme fell apart.

“In the trial, the defendants explained that, from the beginning, they realized that the Umrah 2017 promo package of IDR14.3 million (US$1,000) was not enough to pay for the package they offered, but the defendants still offer the umrah packages anyways so they could and attract more potential pilgrims to register and pay, ” the presiding judge said as quoted by Detik.

The judge said the number of First Travel customers who registered for packages from January 2015 to June 2017 was as many as 93,295 people and the total amount paid to the company was about IDR1.319 trillion.

Of those customers, only 29,985 were able to use their purchased Umrah packages while the other 63,310 never received their trips nor a refund for their deposits, much of which was funneled into the personal accounts of the owners who reportedly used the ill-gotten funds to fuel their lavish lifestyles including around US$200,000 spent by Anniesa to get her Muslim fashion line into New York Fashion Week last year, several luxurious homes and cars, a IDR1.7 billion shopping trip to a mall and IDR400 million on curtains, among others.

Prosecutors had demanded that both husband and wife be given 20 year sentences for their role in the massive fraud case. No word yet on whether the defendants or prosecutors will file for an appeal over the verdict.

In April, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) warned of potentially even more fraudulent travel agencies luring in customers with unrealistically low tour packages. In March, one travel agency in South Sulawesi was investigated by police for allegedly defrauding 50,000 of its Umrah customers out of around IDR1 trillion.

 



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