Evianne Tantono, Owner of RIVARENO Gelato in Jakarta, Confesses Instructing Robert Chen to Commit Organised Theft

NATIONALXPOS.CO.ID, DENPASAR – 20 August 2023

The case of alleged organised theft of Leonardo Gelato ice cream shop assets on Jalan PetitengEvianne Tantonono. 3, Seminyak, North Kuta, Badung, (31/5) involving the General Manager of RIVARENO Jakarta with the initials RBT and 50 people, was responded to by the owner of Leonardo Gelato, Leonard A. Vereecken.

According to the owner of the Dutch ice cream shop, this organised theft case should have been completed on 6 June 2023 when ET's confession was published by Andrew Sutedja as Evianne Tantono and Robert Chen's attorney.

Several legal experts, Leonard said, have independently proven that Evianne Tantono and Robert Chen had no authority to take the Leonard Gelato's assets. Therefore, this case is a simple case and proven to violate Article 363 of the Criminal Code. This statement was expressed by Leonard, when the media crew confirmed it via WhatsApp message, Friday (18/8/2023) at 09.00 Wita.

Leonard regrets that more than 2 months after the incident, this case has not been properly investigated by the Bali Police.

"This is not the first crime committed by Evianne Tantono against Leonardo Gelato. Since September 2022, I as the owner of Leonardo Gelato have filed a total of 15 lengthy reports of serious crimes to Badung Police and Bali Police against Evianne Tantono who is part of a Malaysian crime family headed by Mac Yim Wan Yip and her husband, Chong Wait Thoong," Leonard explained.

"After the Bali Police press release on 5 June 2023 and Leonard's witness report on 7 July 2023 there has been no official response. Not only are dozens of his ice cream shop employees waiting to go back to work, Leonardo Gelato's stolen assets are being kept by the police for no legal reason," he said.

The Bali Police granted Robert Chen a release after 5 days of detention, without starting the normal investigation process with witness testimonies and evidence collection. According to Leonardo Gelato's attorney Rachman Bakary, it is highly unusual that a perpetrator such as Robert Chen, who has been confessed of committing a serious crime with a maximum sentence of 9 years in prison, received a release from detention.

Robert Chen was released 2 days after his lawyer, Andrew Suteja, went to the Polda Bali. The release is all the more dubious because on 6 June 2023, before Robert Chen was released, Evianne Tantono made a full confession which made it undeniable that he and Robert Chen had committed the crime," said Leonard.

Even more astonishingly, Leonard said, according to sources close to Chong Wai Thoong, Andrew Suteja is allegedly very experienced in providing inducements to Indonesian officials, not only being only Robert Chen's attorney, he is also Evianne Tantono’s attorney for the RIVARENO and ADIREKSA companies. This directly proves that Robert Chen has the same interests as the owners of RIVARENO, namely, Evianne Tantono and Chong Wai Thoong.

"Robert Chen's statement to the Bali Police that he acted alone contradicts the confession of his boss, Evianne Tantono, who confessed a few days later that she ordered the RIVARENO general manager, Robert Chen, to steal Leonardo Gelato's assets. This confirms that without orders and financing from his superiors, it is impossible for Robert Chen to work alone," said Leonard.

Leonard asserts that despite Evianne Tantono's confession and the overwhelming evidence of her and her husband's direct involvement in the organised theft on 31 May 2023, they have not been summoned, let alone be interviewed by the police.

The fact that legal experts have independently proven that neither Evianne Tantono nor Robert Chen were authorised to take Leonard Gelato's assets, contradicts the statement from attorney Andrew Suteja's in online media siarpro.com stating that Evianne Tantono is a director of PT Artisanal Food Group (PT AFG). This is factually untrue as, Leonard said, since he is the 100% owner of this company and his wife is the director since 2020, according to the company register of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) of the Republic of Indonesia, which is Indonesia's leading company register for shareholders, directors and commissioners, and an exclusive source for the police. According to the company administration, PT AFG was permanently closed before the pandemic and since 2020 has no turnover, no personnel, and no assets. In the management structure of PT AFG it is clear that Evianne Tantono is not the director of my company PT AFG, as falsely claimed by Andrew Sutedja.

"Thus, Evianne Tantono is deliberately and unlawfully pretending to act on behalf of my company and making unauthorised decisions. Based on PT AFG's shareholder resolution on 1 January 2020, Evianne Tantono was dismissed as a director for being caught embezzling tens of billions of money in violation of her duty as a director to act in the best interests of the company. The company registry of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) of the Republic of Indonesia confirms this that she is no longer a director of PT AFG," said Leonard.

Leonard further explained that, "The fact is, that Evianne Tantono and Chong Wai Thoong are the owners of Leonardo Gelato's competitor, RIVARENO Gelato from Jakarta. Another fact is that Robert Chen is the General Manager of RIVARENO Jakarta, and not the General Manager of PT AFG which has been closed and inactive for more than 2 years. Therefore, Robert Chen does not have any authority to secure assets on behalf of PT AFG or any other company," he explained. Evianne Tantono's motive is to "secure" assets for “free” for the second RIVARENO Gelato ice cream shop in Jakarta," he said.

Leonard is convinced that Evianne Tantono and Robert Chen's legal counsel, Andrew Suteja, cannot provide evidence to support his statement that Leonardo Gelato's assets belong to PT AFG and are used by Leonardo Gelato unlawfully.  "Sutedja’s statement is legally flawed because in fact", explains Leonard, "I am not only the 100% owner of PT AFG but also the 100% owner of Leonardo Gelato (PT Leonardo Gelato Artigianale), as confirmed in the company register at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. Therefore, also this statement from Andrew Suteja is factually incorrect. Conclusive evidence of my undisputed ownership has been submitted to the Bali Police on 7 July 2023," Leonard said.

According to the Dutchman, with the conclusive evidence of Leonard's ownership combined with Evianne Tantono's confession on 6 June 2023, this criminal case is simple and complete. Therefore, it is very suspicious that more than 2.5 months after the crime occurred, the main perpetrator of the theft has been released from detention and that Evianne Tantono and Chong Wai Thoong have not been arrested, let alone questioned by the Bali Police.

"Clearly, there are other forces at play behind the suspect. In the normal course of events, Evianne Tantono and Robert Chen, who have confessed to being responsible for the Rp. 10 billion organised heist, should both be detained, securing their presence for a trial in court that will inevitably result in years of punishment," Leonard concluded.

When the media crew confirmed through whatsapp messages to both Robert Chen and Chong Wai Thoong on 1 August 2023 at 12.51 Wita and 12.59 Wita, until the time this news was published, both did not provide any answers. Likewise to Andrew Suteja's legal advisor, when confirmed by whatsapp message, the phone number seen is the medika clinic.

In a separate place, the Director of Criminal Investigation of the Bali Police, Kombes Pol Yanry Paran Simarmata, via telephone via whatsapp, Sunday, (20/8/2023) at 14.30 Wita said that the Bali Police could not provide borrowed assets that became Evidence (BB). "From both parties claiming the asset, both of them provided a letter requesting the borrowing of assets. Therefore, we decided that we could not allow the borrowing of assets to the two parties to the dispute," he said.

According to Leonard, the statement of Kombes Pol Yanry Paran Simarmata is legally incorrect since Sutedja did not and cannot provide any proof of ownership of the PT LGA assets. Leonard on the other hand has provided all the legal proof that he is the undisputed and 100% owner of the assets. This is clearly a criminal case and the Polda is trying to create a civil dispute that does not exist. This confirms Leonard’s strong suspicions that other forces are at play.