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)