Former Telkom employee tried for phone bill scam

JAKARTA (JP): A former employee of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom was indicted at the West Jakarta District Court yesterday for his alleged involvement in a phone bill scam which cost the firm Rp 2.37 billion (US$158,000) in losses.

Prosecutor Uri Hasan Basri said the defendant, Sofian, 38, and his accomplices, M. Sidik and Herawati, applied for and used 31 telephone lines between January and March but had refused to pay the bills. Sidik and Herawati will be tried in separate trials at the same courthouse.

"The defendant and his accomplices regularly moved from one rented house to another so as to avoid detection," Uri said.

In their activities, Sofian was allegedly in charge of faking documents and applying to Telkom for new telephone lines, while Sidik and Herawati rented premises in which to have the telephones installed.

In January, Sofian applied for six telephone lines for a house rented by Sidik and Herawati on Jl. Kebon Jeruk. They both immediately moved when the company's representatives went there to discuss payment of outstanding bills totaling Rp 534 million, he said.

The defendant again requested another 20 telephone lines in February for an office on Jl. Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, and ran away again after failing to pay bills of Rp 1.53 billion, he said.

The prosecutor said the three later used six telephone lines in a house in Central Jakarta and left an unsettled account of Rp 300 million.

Uri charged the defendant under Article 265 of the Criminal Code on document falsification, which carries a maximum punishment of eight years in jail.

Police arrested Sofian on March 26 in a rented house in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta. They also arrested 12 other suspects in the scam, including eight Indians and three Pakistanis, in a separate place.

The suspects were believed to have placed calls to a telecommunications provider in Kuwait who provided international direct dialing services mostly to Kuwaiti customers to make calls to at least 13 different countries, including the United States, Iraq and Europe.

Presiding judge Sanim Djarwadi adjourned the trial until next week to hear witnesses' testimonies. (jun)