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)