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)