Court opens trial of Oki on forgery charges
Court opens trial of Oki on forgery charges
JAKARTA (JP): Harnoko Dewantono, known as Oki and the prime suspect in a Los Angeles triple murder, was arraigned yesterday at South Jakarta District Court for falsifying two Indonesian passports.
Prosecutor Abdul Muis Gassing told presiding judge Doris A.A. Taulo that Oki, 30, a former employee at a Jakarta leasing company PT Perdana Multi Finance, falsified and repeatedly used two fake passports.
One of the passports had a fake name and the other one had a photo of him bearing the name of his younger brother, Tri (Eri) Harto Darmawan, one of the L.A. murder victims.
According to Muis, Oki obtained the first passport in July 1991 from the South Jakarta immigration office by using the name of Oki Harnoko.
With the passport, valid until 1997, Oki left for the United States in October 1992, and arrived back in February 1993, through Soekarno-Hatta international airport.
In June 1993, Oki managed to get another passport for his late brother at the Indonesian consulate in Chicago, valid for two years, the prosecutor said.
He then used the two-year passport to enter Indonesia the following month through the Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra.
A few weeks later, he used the same document to go to Malaysia via Soekarno-Hatta airport and arrived back a week later through Polonia airport, Muis added.
The prosecutor accused Oki of violating two rules of the Criminal Code and three others of the Immigration Law's Article 55.
He charged that Oki used various documents concomitantly and that were falsified through illegal means, charges based on Articles 263 and 270 of the Criminal Code.
The first article carries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment, while the second one carries two years and eight months.
Muis also accused the suspect of using fake passports, falsifying his passport application and possessing more than one valid passport, violations stipulated in items a, b and c in Article 55 of the Immigration Law Number 2 issued in 1992.
When asked to comment on the prosecutor's charges, Oki replied: "I understand all the contents but let my lawyers defend me, Your Honor."
Oki's lawyers from the Ruhut Sitompoel, Tommy Sihotang & Associates law office asked the judge for two weeks to prepare their response to the prosecution.
Worrying that the suspect might spend too much time in custody at the Cipinang penitentiary, Judge Doris agreed to a week intermission. The trial, which lasted only 45 minutes, was adjourned until next Wednesday.
Yesterday's trial attracted far fewer visitors than expected and consisted mostly of reporters and security officers.
Oki was arrested in Central Jakarta on Jan. 7 for passport forgery but later was charged for his alleged role in the killing of his female business partner Gina Sutan Aswar, his brother, Eri, and his Indian business partner Suresh Mirchandani.
The three decaying corpses, believed to have been killed separately in 1991 and 1992 in Los Angeles, the United States, were found together in a storage locker and identified late last year.
Since then he has been on the Los Angeles police's wanted list as the main suspect in the killing.
City police say they are still trying to bring the murder case to court. (bsr)