Moonshine maker faces imprisonment

JAKARTA: Prosecutors recommended to the West Jakarta District Court that it sentence alleged moonshine brewer Ayong, 48, to 11 months in prison for selling fabricated whiskey and vodka.

During Tuesday's hearing, the prosecutors alleged that Ayong, a resident of Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, had sold 330 crates of his concoction, branded as McDonald and Mansion House products, to Acuan, a liquor store owner, on Dec. 11 last year.

Shortly after, Acuan received complaints from his customers that the whiskey they bought tasted of strawberry and pineapple.

PT Industri Semak, which holds the trademarks for the brands, later determined that the vodka and whiskey were not legal products of PT Industri Semak.

The defendant was charged under the Public Health Law (No. 23 of 1992), and the Trademark Law (No. 15 of 2001). --JP