Former Telkom employee tried for phone bill scam
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)