Nothing irregular in BI's Rp 7b transfer: Witnesses

JAKARTA (JP): Witnesses in the trial of a man charged with defrauding Central Bank of Rp 7 billion (US$2.9 million) said yesterday they had not found any irregularities in a transfer form they signed.

At the hearing at Central Jakarta District Court, a bank employee, Sukandar, was scolded by the judges when he said he signed the form just because there were other signatures on it.

"How could you do that...Rp 7 billion is a lot of money," Alboin said. Another judge said the money was drawn from public savings.

Sukandar, who works in the Bank's testing section, acknowledged the sum was unusual.

Sukandar was a witness in the hearing against defendant Roy Indra Kusnohadi. The businessman is one of five charged in the case. He is accused of helping the head of the cashier's section, Naman Kawi, find someone with an account at the Bank to be used as a money receiver.

Another witness, Yos, who admitted to also signing the form, told the court he did not find any irregularities when checking the transfer on his computer before signing it.

According to the indictment, the fake transfer was made by the Naman Kawi.

Naman was charged of forging transfer documents in July last year, to take advantage of a weakness in Bank Indonesia's accounting system.

Another witness, accountant Desmidemas, told the court there was no obligation to cross examine the cashier and the accounting section when transfers were made.

"It would be the cashier's section who would know of irregularities," he said.

He said he only heard of the fraud a month after the form was signed on July 8.

The Central Bank had detected irregularities about a week later and conducted and internal investigation. They reported their suspicions to police in August. The person who allegedly made the transfer, Dahlan, proved to be a fictitious character.

Naman and another businessman, defendant Andi Muis, are said to have received a joint commission of Rp 5.95 billion which they shared with the others involved in the scheme. Prosecutors said Naman had abused a colleague's password to record the transfer in the Bank's computer. (13)