Former BIN agent gets 4 years for counterfeit notes
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) official was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for his involvement in printing counterfeit bank notes.
The Central Jakarta District Court, however, cleared former executive head of the BIN bureau for currency counterfeiting eradication Brig. Gen. (ret) HM Zaeri of charges of circulating the counterfeit money, Antara reported.
Prosecutors had demanded eight years for Zaeri, who has evaded detention after doctors said he was recovering from a by-pass operation. The prosecutors have put him under city arrest.
Zaeri appealed the court ruling, while the panel of judges did not order his immediate imprisonment. A defendant can avoid serving a sentence until the Supreme Court hands down a legally binding verdict.
"I used the counterfeit bank notes for research purposes. To eradicate counterfeit money, we need to know its anatomy," said Zaeri, a retired police officer.
The same judges also sentenced four other former BIN officials Zaelani, Hariyanto, Woro Narus Saptoro and M. Iskandar to four years in prison and two other members of the group Tatang Rustana and Dadang Ruhiyat to five years. The last two received a longer prison term because they had previously served time for the same crime.
Unlike Zaeri, the other defendants will immediately serve their prison terms.
The court found Zaeri guilty of ordering his former subordinates to print 2,267 counterfeit bank notes of Rp 100,000 denomination at his office on Jl. Madiun in Central Jakarta.
The judges also found the group had printed 1,000 counterfeit cigarette excise stamps of Rp 3,300 and Rp 3,900 denomination.
All the defendants were charged under Articles 55, 244 and 250 of the Criminal Code and Presidential Instruction No. 1/1971 on coordinated eradication of counterfeit money.
The crime was revealed by Zaeri's other subordinates, including Jhonny A Kalalo, Zulkifli, Martono, Lukman Wirinata and Endun Kartasantana who reported the case to the police.
"What the defendants (former BIN officials) did had placed a state institution in disrepute. The charges of printing the counterfeit money for circulation were not proven because up to now we have not found evidence that the bank notes have reached the public," presiding judge Kusriyanto said.
One of the prosecutors, Eddy Saputra, said his team would regroup to determine their response to the verdict.
"We may appeal to the higher court because the convict is challenging the verdict," Eddy said.
There has been a consistent rise in the number of counterfeit banknotes. Data from Bank Indonesia shows that from January to September 2004 BI collected 36,550 fake notes comprising of 15,940 Rp 50,000 notes, 12,309 Rp 100,000 notes, 4,258 Rp 20,000 notes, 3,863 Rp 10,000 notes and 190 Rp 5,000 bills, worth a total of around Rp 2.15 billion.