11 grilled for court document forgery

11 grilled for court document forgery

JAKARTA: The police are interrogating 11 officials allegedly
linked with the forgery of court papers which allowed two
Nigerians convicted of drug trafficking last year to escape from
prison.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said
Wednesday that the 11 officials were from the Cipinang
penitentiary, Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, and East Jakarta
District Court.

"Thus far, we have evidence that three officials from the East
Jakarta District Court are involved in the document fraud," he
said, only identifying the officials involved by their initials
JM, T, and R.

A Nigerian man, Michael Roger Earp, and woman, Abdalla,
escaped from the Cipinang penitentiary in East Jakarta and the
Tangerang Women's Penitentiary respectively on Dec. 30 last year
with forged court documents stating that they had been acquitted
based upon a judicial review.

The East Jakarta District Court had sentenced the man to 20-
years imprisonment and the woman to 15-years imprisonment after
finding them guilty of smuggling 1.2 kilograms (2.64 pounds) of
heroin into Indonesia last year.

"The couple could have fled to their home country. We're now
tracking down the lawyer who helped them to escape," said Anton.
--JP