Eight-year jail terms sought for counterfeiting suspects
Eight-year jail terms sought for counterfeiting suspects
JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor demanded on Tuesday that the
Central Jakarta District Court sentence defendants Ismail Putra,
59, and Eddy Kereh, 53, to eight years for their alleged role in
the production of Rp 19.2 billion (US$2.2 million) in fake money
since July last year.
"Both defendants have violated Article 244 of the Criminal
Code in the production and distribution of fake money as real
banknotes," Soejitno told the hearing, presided over by judge
Poerwanto.
The article carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in jail.
"The evidence and witnesses we have against these defendants
are sufficient to prove that both are guilty of the crime,"
Soejitno said.
The case immediately drew the public's attention after
defendant Ismail revealed in the initial court hearing that the
fake money project was sponsored by then chief of the Indonesian
Military Intelligence (BIA) Maj. Gen. Tyasno Sudarto, whom he
alleged had told him that the money would be used to finance the
activities of prointegration East Timorese militia during the
referendum in August last year.
Soejitno refused to bring Tyasno before the court on the
grounds he had enough evidence against defendant Ismail, while
presiding judge Rasaldi Salmun declined to do so in an act of
obvious anxiety, which a certain lawyer called fear.
Prosecutor Soejitno said on Tuesday that the defendants were
responsible for having caused great anxiety to the public.
"The defendants succeeded in making the public doubt the
authenticity of the rupiah they carry, in the midst of our weak
economic condition," Soejitno said.
However, he praised both defendants for their civilized manner
in the courtroom, and especially defendant Ismail who had never
had legal trouble before.
Judge Poerwanto gave both defendants until Sept. 12 to come up
with a defense statement, before the panel of judges takes
another week, from Sept. 12, to decide on the verdict.
Besides the two defendants, the West Jakarta Prosecutor's
Office has also named eight other defendants in the case. They
are: Yustinus Kasminto, Junie, A. Khui, alias Ardy Sukarman,
Ramelan, who was the alleged technician in charge of printing,
Bambang, Triyono and Slamet, the reported machine operators, and
housemaid Tono.
Among the evidence seized from the 10 defendants in the case
was an offset Heidelberg printing machine, 1,000 fake banknotes
of Rp 50,000 denomination and a number of receipts from the
purchase of related materials.
Prosecutor Soejitno earlier said the forged banknotes made by
the defendants were in the form of the 1995 edition, which
carries the face of former president Soeharto.
The defendants, he said, destroyed Rp 15.8 billion of the fake
rupiah after they learned it was poor quality.
The remaining Rp 3.4 billion was found with two men, he said.
The first Rp 1.6 billion was in defendant A Khui's possession,
who is currently receiving medical treatment, and the Rp 1.8
billion was with a man, identified as Tyasno Sudarto, "and who is
still at large," Soejitno said.
The group, he said, labeled the forged money with six serial
numbers, namely FRM, LZN, LZO, RPM, TWR and YBD.
The suspects were arrested at printing company Jaya Abadi
Prima at Jl. Palmerah Barat No. 141 in West Jakarta in February.
(ylt)