Men arrested for unpaid hotel bills

JAKARTA (JP): The police have arrested four men for allegedly not paying their bills totaling over Rp 1 billion at a five-star hotel, after staying there for nearly a month.

City Police chief of detectives, Sr. Comr. A. Rochana, said on Monday that his personnel had arrested the men on Sunday. They had been staying at the Aston Hotel, on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta, since March 31 this year.

"They booked over 30 rooms at the hotel, for a foundation gathering or something like that," Rochana told reporters.

"The terrible part was that these four men allegedly refused to pay their hotel bills subsequently... they even reportedly issued bad checks and made promises to pay the bills by selling their Mercedes-Benz cars, but nothing materialized."

Rochana said that hotel staff, finally frustrated by the behavior of the four men, called the police to have them arrested.

The police are also investigating a fraud case involving a former woman army officer, whose last rank was that of chief sergeant and who is now in her 40s. The suspect allegedly duped a number of businessman into investing up to Rp 2 billion in a fuel trade business she claimed to have started recently.

"She got the money, and reportedly ran off. Police caught her, and we are still investigating the case," Rochana said, without elaborating. (ylt)