Employees paid with fake rupiah

Employees paid with fake rupiah

TANGERANG (JP): Police are continuing their questioning of the manager and a secretary of garment factory PT Young Chang Perkasa here, following claims by 70 workers that they had received wages of counterfeit Rp 50,000 notes.

"We have not yet determined the status of the (manager and secretary), because we're still building up the case," Cikupa Police subprecinct head First Lt. Matrasa said on Sunday.

He identified the manager as Kiem and the secretary as Bety.

Preliminary police investigations revealed that Bety was assigned by Kiem on July 5 to withdraw Rp 26 million from state Bank BNI's Cikupa branch office.

At 10:30 a.m. she delivered the cash to Kiem, who distributed the monthly salary at 7 p.m. to the factory's employees.

News of the counterfeit wages was first announced by employee Rosi, who was told by a cashier at a nearby supermarket that her Rp 50,000 note was a fake.

"My friends and I were stunned. We then reported the case to the local Cikupa Police," she said.

The police have seized fake notes totaling Rp 7.2 million.

Head of Tangerang's Bank BNI chapter office Rijanta insisted it was impossible for the bank to distribute counterfeit notes.

"Our offices have an international-standard gadget to detect fake notes," he said.(41/bsr)