BI says no fake Rp 100,000 notes found

JAKARTA (JP): While acknowledging that some Rp 100,000 banknotes have a defect, Bank Indonesia said the money is not fake.

"The banknotes are genuine, but flawed," the central bank's deputy governor Aulia Pohan said in a media statement.

The central bank issued the statement on Wednesday in response to newspaper reports that there was a defect in the Rp 100,000 notes, in which the ink smudged if rubbed by a finger or a sharp object.

"It's true that the printing quality of a small number of the money is not so good ... But it doesn't mean that the notes are fake," he said, adding that until now there had been no fake Rp 100,000 banknotes found.

Another executive of the central bank said on Thursday that the defective Rp 100,000 banknotes could be exchanged at appointed commercial banks.

According to the central bank's statement, a genuine Rp 100,000 note has the following characteristics: a clear window depicting cotton and rice plants, a color window with the Bank Indonesia logo inside, the "i" letter in the Bank Indonesia logo above the picture of the legislature could not be seen clearly if seen through the color window, and the main picture of Bank Indonesia and the nominal value was not smooth to the touch.

Bank Indonesia deputy director for banknote supervision Kaidi Thohir said on Thursday that the central bank had asked some 138 banks in the country to allow the public to exchange the flawed Rp 100,000 notes.

He said the banks could later exchange the notes at the central bank.

Kaidi said that Bank Indonesia had asked Australian printing firm North Printing Australia to take responsibility for the poor quality of the banknotes.

"We called the CEO (of the Australian printing firm) yesterday and he said that he would be responsible," Kaidi said, adding that the flawed notes would be returned to the printing firm.

He also said that the domestic banks must check the originality of the Rp 100,000 notes to be exchanged by the public.

"But until now there have been no counterfeit Rp 100,000 notes found," he said.

Reports of counterfeit money have once again surfaced, particularly after the authorities recently captured a retired senior Army official for his alleged involvement in counterfeiting some Rp 4.7 billion worth of fake Rp 50,000 notes.

But Kaidi said that the amount of fake rupiah banknotes in circulation had not reached such an alarming level that it was a threat to the economy.

He said that the amount of the fake rupiah handed over by the police and the banking community from January to April amounted to Rp 6.43 billion, representing only about 0.0061 percent of the total banknotes in circulation.

He also said that some 88.67 percent of the confiscated fake banknotes had not been placed in circulation.(rei)