Court fails to present local singers in phone fraud trial
Court fails to present local singers in phone fraud trial
JAKARTA (JP): Five local singers have failed to testify at the
trial of three men charged with selling counterfeited cellular
phones at the West Jakarta District Court.
Public prosecutor Asri Aziz told the panel judges on Wednesday
that his office had sent official letters to Dedy Dhukun, Yacob
Kembar, Tommy J. Pisa, Baliyanto and Dicky summoning them to
court as witnesses. "They received the letters. I don't know why
they failed to show up today," Aziz said.
The artists were listed as witnesses, because they bought fake
cellular phones from the defendants, the prosecutor said.
The trial went on in the absence of the artists. The first
witness was Ahmad Falah, an operational staff member of the hand
phone operator PT Komselindo, a joint venture company between
state-owned PT Telkom and PT Elektrindo (Bimantara group).
Falah said the prices of hand phones, mostly Motorolla and NEC
models, ranged from Rp 2.5 million (US$ 1,085 ) to Rp 3 million
each.
Aziz said the defendants, Bennie Keok Hee, a Singaporean,
locals Suratmin Burhan alias Bun Hok, Reza Agustinus alias Aking
counterfeited 510 hand phones by stealing the PIN (private
identification number) and the electronic serial numbers (ESN)
from the distributor, PT Teknikotama Globalindo between August
1994 and December last year.
He said the suspects used an electrical device to read the ESN
being used by the original cellular phone, then copied the
numbers into the counterfeit hand phones.
Users of duplicated hand phones can only send calls, but
cannot not receive them, he added. The users thus never pay for
the calls, which are charged to the owners of the original
cellular phones.
Many hand phone owners have complained to PT Telkom that their
bills recorded inexplicably high use, the witness said.
Azis said two other suspects, Awi and Sujat Sidodo alias Kenny
are still at large.
He added that the suspects used a room at Hotel Princen on Jl.
Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, as their workshop for the
counterfeiting.
Azis said the suspects caused losses of Rp 3.03 billion in
lost state funds.
Bennie, through an interpreter, denied all the charges, saying
that the testimony given by Aziz was not based on fact.
The suspects have been in police custody since Nov. 28 last
year.
The government has appointed four companies -- Telkomsel,
Satelindo, Ratelindo and Komselindo -- to operate radio cellular
communication systems and provide hand phones with official
serial numbers for costumers. (04)