Former BIN agent gets 4 years for counterfeit notes
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.