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)