Four arrested for alleged forgery in Bank Mega
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Police revealed on Monday that they had arrested four suspects who were involved in the forgery of seven deposit certificates worth a total of Rp 9 billion (US$1.06 million) at Bank Mega's branch office in Central Jakarta.
"The suspects were arrested on Dec. 18 after police received a report from the bank management on Dec. 17," said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo.
Prasetyo said the suspects also included Mahyuni Fauzi, an employee of Bank Mega's branch at the Gani Djemat building on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta.
Mahyuni allegedly had leaked classified information about deposit certificates which were about to be due this month to the other suspects: Imelda Gunawan, Jamilah alias Mila and Junito Afiat.
There were seven certificates that will be due this month. One certificate worth Rp 3 billion belonged to a customer named Melissa Pangke and six others, each worth Rp 1 billion, belonged to Carmelia Mongan.
"Based on the (leaked) information, Imelda made a fake ID using Melissa's name while Jamilah used Carmelia's name. They also made fake deposit certificates," said Prasetyo.
A senior investigator in charge of the investigation into the document forgery said that the syndicate members had admitted that they printed the fake IDs and certificates at a printing company on Jl. Pramuka, East Jakarta.
"We are now questioning three officials of Bank Mega as witnesses in the case. They are Surjadi Hardiman, head of Bank Mega's branch at the Gani Djemat building, Nina Budiyani, deputy head of the branch, and Priyo Supangat, chief executive officer of Bank Mega," he said, while asking to remain anonymous.
He said the bank management had discovered several irregularities in the fake certificates.
"The type of paper used was different from the type used in the original certificates issued by Bank Mega," he said.
The original certificates used six digits in the serial numbers, while the fake ones only used five digits, he added.
Imelda was apprehended at Plaza Senayan in Central Jakarta while Jamilah and Junito were arrested at Mercure Hotel in Grogol, West Jakarta, later in the day.
He did not give details about the arrest of Mahyuni.
According to the investigator, Imelda is also a former employee of the bank. She resigned in 2001.
The syndicate also told police investigators that they spent about Rp 20 million to finance their actions.
"A total of Rp 15 million was spent for printing the necessary documents, Rp 2 million for bribing Mahyuni and the remaining Rp 3 million for lobbying," he said.
The syndicate promised Mahyuni that they would pay him Rp 300 million if the plan was successful.