The National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) is set to trace evidence in Hong Kong and Switzerland in an investigation into alleged investment fraud involving Indonesian businessman Harun Abidin and investment company Cedrus Investment Ltd .

The investigation was prompted by Harun’s recent report against Hong Kong-based Cedrus Investment Ltd. and its owner, Swiss citizen Rani Tarek Jarkas, to Bareskrim for alleged investment fraud in May. The investment firm was commissioned to manage US$4.2 million worth of stocks owned by PT Cakra Mineral with Harun’s consent in January 2015. However, the firm allegedly transferred some of the stocks to other people, causing an estimated loss of $854,000.

“We have filed mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests to both countries,” National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told thejakartapost.com in a recent interview.

(Read also : Cedrus case not fraud, but failed debt payment: Lawyer)

In the MLA request letters sent at the end of July, the police asked the Swiss and Hong Kong governments to provide information on Rani Tarek Jarkas’ identity and legal files on Cedrus Investment Ltd.

Apart from Hong Kong, Cedrus Investment Ltd. has branch offices in the Cayman Island, China and Indonesia. In October 2015, the company recruited former Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry coal and mineral mining director Raden Sukhyar as its managing director for commodity and natural resources. To date, Cedrus Investment Ltd.’s Indonesian branch office could not be contacted to confirm the matter. (ebf)