City police arrest two for bank fraud

City police arrest two for bank fraud

JAKARTA (JP): City police have arrested two members of a gang for allegedly having defrauded several banks in the city.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said yesterday that the gang members, with only primary school educations, had ripped off at least Rp 186.3 million (US$80,825) by forging the signatures of numerous bank account holders.

"The gang is believed to have been in operation for more than five years so the real amount might be much higher," Iman said, adding that the leader of the gang, Chaidir Abullah, alias Kadir, died last December.

Two members, identified as Holil and Anwar, are still at large, Iman said.

A. Gozali and Sumardiono, alias Umar, were arrested by police last week at Bank Dipo International's office in Slipi, West Jakarta, after the bank's personnel confirmed that they had forged the signature in the account book of Tasmiyati Mujiono to transfer Rp 23.2 million from her account to a BII branch office in Senen, Central Jakarta, Iman said.

Iman said each gang member had a responsibility. One was in charge of getting bank account numbers, one for getting samples of the signatures, and another to find out where certain companies had their bank accounts. The others would arrange for the banks to send the money to their account in Bogor.

"According to them, their first target was Bank BNI 46," the spokesman said.

The late Chaidir, together with Holil and A. Gozali, came to the bank's office on Jl. Sudirman on Nov. 9 and 11, 1990, and successfully transferred Rp 99 million from the account of PT Inti Ganda Perdana to their account at BNI's Glodok branch office.

They stole Rp 87.3 million from the account of Wiranata Prawira at Bank Mayora in Tomang, East Jakarta, in their second operation, Iman said. "Fortunately, two of them were caught in their third operation."

"We're still checking to see who else fell victim to their operation," he said. (bsr)