Gen. Tyasno named in counterfeit money ring

Gen. Tyasno named in counterfeit money ring

JAKARTA (JP): A defendant in a Rp 19.2 billion (US$2.1
million) counterfeit money case told the Central Jakarta District
Court on Tuesday that the money was produced with the full
knowledge of former chief of the Indonesian Military Intelligence
Body (BIA) Gen. Tyasno Sudarto.

"Pak Darto knew very well that this fake money production was
for the interest of the Indonesian Military and (to settle)
problems in East Timor," defendant Ismail Putra, a retired Army
major, told the hearing, presided over by judge Purwanto.

"He sanctioned the process. The (former) BIA chief also
visited (defendant) Yustinus Kasminto's house in Palmerah, West
Jakarta, where the printing was done."

Upon leaving the courtroom, Ismail told reporters that he was
speaking of Gen. Tyasno Sudarto.

Tyasno replaced Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo as Army chief last
November. Previously, he served as Central Java Military
Commander from April 1998 to January 1999.

And from January 1999 till Nov. 20, 1999, he served as chief
of Indonesian Military Intelligence Body, before being promoted
to Army chief.

The production of Rp 19.2 billion in fake money occurred
between July last year and February this year.

Prosecutor Soejitno said in the previous hearing that the
forged Rp 50,000 banknotes made by the defendants were copies of
the 1995 edition which carries the likeness of former president
Soeharto.

The defendants, he said, destroyed Rp 15.8 billion of the fake
rupiah after they learned it was of poor quality.

The remaining Rp 3.4 billion was found with two men, he said.

"The first Rp 1.6 billion was found in the possession of
defendant A Khui, currently receiving medical treatment, and the
other Rp 1.8 billion was with a man, identified as Tyasno
Sudarto, "who is still at large," Soejitno said.

The group, he said, printed the bogus money with six serial
number prefixes, namely FRM, LZN, LZO, RPM, TWR and YBD.

The prosecutor named the suspects from the group as: Yustinus
Kasminto, Junie, A Khui alias Ardy Sukarman, Ismail Putra,
reportedly the group leader, Eddy Kereh, alleged security
coordinator, Ramelan, alleged technician in charge of printing,
Bambang, Triyono and Slamet, the reported machine operators, and
housemaid Tono.

The suspects were arrested at printing company Jaya Abadi
Prima on Jl. Palmerah Barat No. 141 in West Jakarta in February.

Bonds

In her testimony Tuesday, Junie said she had done some
freelance bookkeeping and did some "side jobs" buying and selling
quality paper, used for valuable documents or bonds, and as a
result, had come to know of Eddy.

"Eddy had some quality paper, which he was selling for Rp 250
million per ream. That got me interested. I told him that if ever
he needed help from me, he could contact me," Junie said.

Eddy invited Junie to his residence last year, and introduced
Ismail to Junie.

"Ismail told me that the reams of paper in Eddy's place, could
be used for bonds, valuable documents, or even printing money.
Ismail told me that he was looking for a house, for printing
purposes. He did not elaborate," Junie said.

Junie searched for a house with a printing machine. When she
found one, she contacted Yustinus, whom she later introduced to
Ismail.

"Ismail was the one who drafted the contract (for the house).
I was only a witness to the signing of the contract," she said.

Junie added that even at that point, she had "no idea
whatsoever" what Ismail meant to print in the house, and had no
knowledge of how the reams of paper at Eddy's residence, were
transported to the house in Palmerah.

She said that Ismail later asked her to join him in the
business and to be in charge of bookkeeping.

Junie said she ended up staying in the Palmerah house, where
she worked in a "locked room," doing the bookkeeping of "what
money was spent by Ismail."

Separately, Yustinus said he had contracted his house with the
printing machine in it to Ismail for two months at a price of Rp
150 million each month.

"I was told by Ismail that he would be printing government
documents. I had no knowledge that fake money would be printed,"
Yustinus told the court.

Ismail, however, refuted Yustinus' testimony that he was
ignorant of the fake money production.

"He knew... (Yustinus) was fully aware that the 'government
documents' we were going to print was fake money for the Army's
interests and East Timor."

When Purwanto in turn asked Yustinus if he knew 'Darto,'
Yustinus denied knowing anybody by that name. (ylt)