5 BI officials suspected of being members of a counterfeit syndicate

5 BI officials suspected of being members of a counterfeit syndicate

BANDUNG (JP): Five employees of the Bank Indonesia branch
office in Bandung were arrested on suspicion of being part of a
counterfeit syndicate.

The five employees, who all worked as cashiers for interbank
money transfers, are believed to have copied serial numbers from
bank notes marked for destruction so they could be placed on
counterfeit bills.

Bank officials first became suspicious when they came across
several counterfeit bank notes which had serial numbers from
bills which were to have already been destroyed.

The head of the Bank Indonesia office in Bandung, Pamor L,
filed a formal report with the police here on July 5. The police
immediately opened an investigation, which led to the five
employees being arrested on Thursday. Some Rp 30.4 million in
counterfeit bank notes was also seized.

Senior Superintendent Sardjono of the Bandung Police said the
investigation led to the five suspects, whose job at Bank
Indonesia was to collect worn and damaged bank notes from other
banks for destruction.

"BI officials became suspicious because they found Rp 50,000
bank notes whose serial numbers, according to BI records, were
the same as those of damaged or worn out bank notes which were
already destroyed," Sardjono said here on Saturday.

The investigation also led to the arrest on Saturday morning
of four people not employed at Bank Indonesia. These suspects are
believed to have helped provide and distribute the counterfeit
notes.

Another suspect, identified as Idrus, is still at large.

Sardjono did not rule out the possibility of the involvement
of other BI employees from the head office in Jakarta or in other
branches.

"We will soon expand our investigation to the central BI
office and other branches, as there is the possibility that other
officials may be involved," he said.(25)