An estimated 7 billion in fake rupiah in circulation

An estimated 7 billion in fake rupiah in circulation

BANDUNG (JP): The estimated amount of fake rupiah banknotes
circulating across the country has already reached more than Rp
7.057 billion, Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Aulia Pohan said.

Instead of explaining whether or not the amount has already
reached the alarming level, Pohan said that the figure
represented about 0.00012 percent of the total banknotes in
circulation amounting to Rp 57.2 trillion,

The figure was taken from the available records up until May
this year, Pohan said here at a handover ceremony in the Bank
Indonesia branch office in Bandung on Wednesday.

Abdul Salam was replaced by Maskan Iskandar as the head of the
Bank Indonesia branch office in Bandung.

Iskandar was the manager of Human Resources Development at the
central bank in Jakarta, while Salam is now in charge of
supervision at Bank Prekreditan Rakyat in Jakarta.

"This figure is the cumulative value of the total of 157,658
fake notes in the circulation," he said, adding that the central
bank had been working hard to take preventive steps to curb
counterfeiting of the rupiah.

The circulation of fake banknotes has shaken the country. A
retired Army officer Soemarjono, who is dubbed as the alleged
main suspect in the business, has been under Surabaya police
detention since May.

Soemarjono, the manager of the Indonesian Thomas Cup
(badminton) team this year in Kuala Lumpur, denies his role in
the business, however.

Police have confiscated sheets of paper containing a large
number of uncut fake Rp 50,000 notes totaling Rp 4.7 billion.
Paraphernalia believed to have been used to produce the
counterfeit notes was also confiscated. The "factory" of the fake
money was located in Cakung, East Jakarta.

The Bandung branch office of Bank Indonesia has "grounded"
five of its staffers for circulating fake notes.

"We are waiting for the court verdict. If they are found
guilty, we will sack them," the outgoing head Abdul Salam said.

Pohan said that the replacement of Abdul Salam had nothing to
do with the circulation of the fake notes. (25/sur)