National Museum employees tried over painting theft<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two employees of the National Museum were
\nindicted in the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday for
\nallegedly stealing 25 priceless paintings, including five works
\nof the late Basoeki Abdullah and one by Raden Saleh.<\/p>\n
State prosecutor Y.W. Mere accused the defendants, Supandi,
\n41, a resident of Sawangan, West Java and Bambang Widoyono, 38, a
\nresident of Cengkareng, West Jakarta, of selling the museum's
\ncollections to a Singaporean collector, Michael Lee, who is still
\nat large.<\/p>\n
The defendants, who worked in the museum's conservancy
\ndepartment, were charged under article 363 of the Penal Code for
\nconspiring to steal, an offense punishable with up to seven years
\nimprisonment.<\/p>\n
Mere said the theft took place between March and May 1996.<\/p>\n
The case came to light in September when five of the stolen
\npaintings were displayed in a Christie's catalog of paintings to
\nbe auctioned in Singapore in October.<\/p>\n
Among the five on display were Basoeki's Ny. Beni Suherman and
\nRaden's portrait of a Dutch governor wearing the Willems' Order.<\/p>\n
Subsequent investigations by police found that 25 collections
\nin the poorly guarded museum had gone missing. They included
\nrecently restored paintings by French artists Pigasso and H. de
\nToulouse.<\/p>\n
Police have since managed to retrieve 22 of the stolen
\npaintings. Five of them were returned by Christie's Singapore,
\nwhich withdrew them from the auction after the theft became
\nknown. The other 17 were found in a house in Pondok Indah
\nbelieved to have been rented by Lee.<\/p>\n
It was later learned that Lee had arranged to have the five
\npaintings auctioned at Christie's in Singapore.<\/p>\n
The fate of the remaining three paintings was not known.<\/p>\n
The National Museum has since tightened its security.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said the theft was initiated by Lee who had
\nknown Supandi. Bambang, who had the key to the paintings'
\nstoreroom, was brought into the plan at a later stage.<\/p>\n
Lee paid between Rp 3 million and Rp 6 million for each of the
\nstolen paintings, but he had only made payments for 17 of them
\nwhen the scam became known.<\/p>\n
Initially, the money was split evenly between Bambang and
\nSupandi. But later on, Bambang took the larger cuts. In one case,
\nhe took Rp 5 million and gave Supandi Rp 1 million, according to
\nthe dossier.<\/p>\n
The trial was adjourned until next week. (12)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/national-museum-employees-tried-over-painting-theft-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }