Fraud defendants face imprisonment and fines

Fraud defendants face imprisonment and fines

JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor demanded the Central Jakarta
District Court to sentence two men to six years' and three years'
imprisonment respectively for forging transfer documents worth Rp
7 billion (U$2.9 million).

Defendants Nasran Amar and Ayub Sutarya were both former
employees of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) who were accused
of violating Article 34 of the 1971 Corruption Law.

Prosecutor Petrus Sambara demanded that Nasran receive six
years' imprisonment and pay a Rp 10 million fine, or three
months' imprisonment and compensate Bank Indonesia Rp 500
million.

The prosecutor demanded that Ayub receive three years'
imprisonment and pay a Rp 2.5 million fine, or one month of
imprisonment and compensate Bank Indonesia Rp 130 million.

In February, Nasran, Ayub and the head of the Bank's cashier
section Naman Kawi, as well as two businessmen, were brought to
court for forging transfer documents.

In their indictments in three parallel court sessions, state
prosecutors said Naman forged the transfer in July 1996 to take
advantage of a weakness in the bank's account system.

One of the defendants had said the practice of exchanging
computer passwords, which Naman had done in making the transfer,
was common.

In an earlier hearing, a witness, the head of the treasury
division, had also revealed that an employee in the
administrative section would often sign a transfer without
rechecking requirements, only because another employee in the
cashier section had signed the necessary documents.

Prosecutors also told the court that defendant Nasran was
asked by Naman, his colleague, to find someone with an account at
the bank who could be used as a recipient of the transferred
money.

Prosecutor Petrus said Nasran deserved the sentence he
demanded because of the loss to the central bank.

"Nasran...was the one who provided a bank account to transfer
the money into from the central bank," Petrus said.

Ayub, then a staff member of the administration section, had
given his password to Naman, which made the transfer possible.

But Petrus said he demanded a lighter sentence for Ayub
because the employee had shown remorse and was the sole
breadwinner of his family of seven children.

Defendants Naman, businessman Andi Muis and businessman Roy
Indra Karnadi were scheduled to hear prosecutors' demands of
their sentences today at Central Jakarta District Court. (12)