Executives detained for falsifying deposit notes

Executives detained for falsifying deposit notes

JAKARTA (JP): Three executives of a private firm have been
arrested for allegedly counterfeiting deposit certificates,
inflicting a loss of about Rp 5 billion (US$2.2 million) on their
business partners.

National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. I.K. Ratta said yesterday
that the executives of PT Media changed the date and the nominal
value of five Rp 1 million certificates into Rp 1 billion
certificates, before selling them to PT Sigma at Rp 850 million
apiece.

The latter paper security firm then sold the fake certificates
to several institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Ratta, however, gave no explanation of how the suspects could
have forged the documents.

According to Ratta, police received a request on Sept. 18 from
executives of the foundation for retired employees of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and state-owned bank BDNI to help
determine the originality or otherwise of the five suspicious
certificates.

The three suspects were identified as Arie Hardhy Cariadhy,
42, Soenar Astoro JB, 55, and Max Neilwan Milliam, 39,
respectively director of operations, president and chief
commissioner of PT Media, which is located in Tebet, South
Jakarta.

After a series of police questioning sessions, the three were
officially detained beginning on Thursday, said Ratta.

If found guilty, they will face up to 20 years imprisonment
each.

The three suspects reportedly spent the money gained in the
alleged scam to buy huge plots of land in West Java and five
luxury vehicles.

Contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday evening, a relative of
Arie said the executive had been on a business trip in Kalimantan
since 10 days ago.

Soenar's wife said her husband had been undergoing treatment
in hospital for the past six months. (bsr)