Bank worker indicted for tricking money changer
Bank worker indicted for tricking money changer
JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia employee Rachmat Supratman
appeared in the West Jakarta District Court on Tuesday on charges
of complicity in swindling a currency broker.
Prosecutor P.D. Manurung said during the court hearing that
Rachmat cooperated with a number of accomplices to swindle
US$100,000 from Lie Benedictus Djoni in a foreign currency
transaction in March this year.
"The defendant's actions violated Article 378 of the Criminal
Code on business fraud," Manurung said in his indictment in the
hearing presided over by judge Vitalien Maryanti.
The article carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
Manurung said the defendant telephoned Lie, the director of PT
Mulia Inter Valasindo, on March 8 this year and told him that he
had a customer who wished to exchange Rp 896 million.
"The defendant told Lie the buyer's name was Hendra," he said.
The transaction was made the following day at the defendant's
house in the Bank Indonesia Housing Complex in Kemanggisan Ilir
subdistrict, West Jakarta, according to the indictment.
Manurung said hours before the transaction occurred, Hendra
told Rachmat he would be unable to come to his house and would
send a friend, identified as Anton, to represent him. Lie sent
two of his employees, Haryanto and Chairul Saleh, as his
representatives.
"The defendant counted Lie's money in front of the two
employees. It totaled $100,000," Manurung said.
Manurung said Rachmat then asked Haryanto and Chairul to come
with him to Hendra's boardinghouse in the Puri Indah Housing
Complex in Kebon Jeruk subdistrict, West Jakarta, to pick up
Hendra's money.
"The three men -- Rachmat, Haryanto and Chairul -- met with
Anton, Hendra's representative, and started the transaction.
"Haryanto gave Anton a plastic pack containing $100,000 in
U.S. money.
"Anton stood up and walked to a filing cabinet in the house as
if he was going to retrieve the (896 million in) rupiah out of
the drawer," Manurung said.
Anton then ran out of the house with the $100,000 and locked
the front door behind him, preventing the three men inside the
house from pursuing him, according to the indictment.
"The defendant was apparently reluctant to chase after Anton
and told Haryanto that he would be responsible for the losses,"
Manurung said.
Settlement
Haryanto immediately telephoned Lie to inform him of the
events, and Lie rushed to Rachmat's house, the indictment said.
"The defendant later told Lie that he preferred to settle the
case out of court," Manurung read from the indictment
The prosecutor said the defendant asked Lie to accept a 1,500-
square meter plot of land in the Kebon Jeruk subdistrict valued
at Rp 650 million ($73,860) in compensation for his lost money.
Lie rejected the offer and filed a complaint with the police,
read the indictment.
The judge adjourned the hearing until next week, when the
court is scheduled to hear testimony from witnesses in the case,
including Haryanto and Chairul.
A number of employees from Mulia Inter Valasindo demonstrated
in front of the courthouse on Tuesday, accusing Rachmat of
cheating their boss.
In a related note, the police said Anton was still at large,
while they had failed to establish the identity of Hendra. (asa)