Actor Onky gave no detail about the land, notary says

JAKARTA (JP): A public notary testifying in a swindle case involving actor Onky Alexander, told the West Jakarta District Court that she was not informed by the defendant nor by the official at the City Land Agency about the real measurements of the land sold to the plaintiff.

"My staff has checked all the land documents submitted by Onky to the City Land Agency and the agency said that there was no irregularities in the documents," said Mahyastoeti Notonegoro, the public notary who was assigned by Onky and Ni Made Tiani, the plaintiff, to make note of a land procurement agreement in 1991.

Mahyastoeti said that since public notaries are only obliged to verify the formal validity of the documents, she did not need to check the correctness of the document's content.

However, she said that the government had regulated that a land certificate must be checked and re-measured before the land is sold to other parties.

Mahyastoeti said that the previous owner, Onky, had never shown up to accompany land agency officials and Ni Made Tiani to measure the land in Tambora district, West Jakarta, which had been sold to the plaintiff.

Onky strongly denied Mahyastoeti's statement, saying that he never received a notice from the public notary's office.

In her testimony Mahyastoeti said that Onky and Ni Made Tiani came to her office to make a land procurement agreement but before the act was completed the plaintiff came to her staff saying that she wanted to annul the agreement and wanted her money back because the land worth Rp 200 million (US$92,550) she bought from Onky could not be remeasured.

Copies

Mahyastoeti reported the plaintiff's request to Onky and he agreed although he did not have the money. Onky borrowed the original copies of the land certificate from her office to offer to a third party.

The notary refused Onky's initial request because he is not lawfully allowed to keep the documents.

"Since Ni Made Tiani has paid for the land, she is the only one who has the right to keep the document," she said.

She said that she finally gave Onky the document because Ni Made Tiani had approved Onky's plan and when they got a prospective buyer they decided to assign another public notary.

She delivered all legal matters concerning the procurement agreement of the land in Tambora district, West Jakarta, to the newly assigned public notary J.L. Waworuntu.

Reportedly, Ni Made Tiani gave Onky a Rp 200 million loan with a plot of land as collateral. She agreed to make a land procurement agreement to cover the loan agreement which ruled that the land would be reverted to the creditor if the funds were not repaid within three months.

Onky reneged on the loan, and Ni Made Tiani preferred cash to the land.

Onky and his father then sold the land to Achmad, a contractor, for Rp 300 million. The payment consisted of Rp 20 million in cash and the rest in the form of two cheques.

But Achmad found out that land was only 160 square meters and contacted the bank to cancel the cheques.

Onky gave the cheques to Ni Made Tiany, who reported him to the police when the bank refused to honor them. He was arrested in October 1991.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday to call other witnesses.(03)