Cameroon citizen appears in court

JAKARTA (JP): A Cameroon national deceived two Indonesians by telling them he had a way to double millions of rupiah, the Central Jakarta District Court heard yesterday.

Fomenteu Nguefack Berlain Erick, 23, is charged with violating Article 378 of the Criminal Code. If found guilty he faces a maximum four years jail.

Prosecutor Rukmini Djalil said Erick tried to defraud the two men by persuading them to give him money, promising to double it for them.

"The defendant first told Herry and Nadian to come to his hotel room in Central Jakarta to see how the duplication was done," she said.

Rukmini said Herry, Nadian and Erick met at Domino discotheque in Central Jakarta where Erick asked them to proceed to his hotel room where he had a duplicating device.

Rukmini said after Erick had convinced the two men, he asked them to bring the money the next morning.

"On March 27 they brought Rp 10,000,000 (US$4,081) in a bundle to the hotel room. Erick put the bundle in a bucket filled with a dark substance," she said.

Rukmini said that after a while, the defendant took the bundle out, saying it had to be dried first.

"The defendant also said that they should go and buy some juice while waiting for the money to dry, but only Herry went out," she said.

"While Herry was out, Nadian said that he saw Erick switch the bundle of money with another bundle from one of the cupboards in the room," she said.

Rukmini said Nadian got suspicious and when Herry arrived he asked Erick to take out the bundle in the cupboard.

"When Herry and Nadian opened the bundle, they found no money inside. Finding only paper cuttings, they immediately reported it to the police," she said.

The trial was adjourned until Monday, July 7.

Speaking after the trial, the defendant's lawyers, Sugianto and Ahmad Yani Yusup, said they had had trouble contacting the French Consulate General here.

"Cameroon is a French speaking country, and according to International Law the French Embassy here is supposed to represent all French speaking citizens who have problems here," Sugianto said.

He said that he had spoken to a French consulate general staff member who promised to pay attention to the case and get back to them.

"But so far nothing has happened so my client has not been able to contact his family back home or get help from his country," Sugianto said. (12)