Retaired colonel gets one year verdict

TANGERANG: The Tangerang District Court sentenced on Tuesday a retired Army colonel to one year imprisonment for falsifying documents of land and building ownership in 2000.

Presiding Judge Joseph Ziraluo said the 50-year old defendant, Col. (ret.) H. Margono Rejowikromo, a resident of Kampung Melayu Barat, Bukit Duri subdistrict of Tebet, South Jakarta, was proven guilty of violating Article 263 of the Criminal Code on forgery.

Earlier, prosecutor Puji Raharjo had sought a one-year prison term. The article carries a maximum punishment of a seven-year prison term.

The prosecutor said Margono had falsified a document on a 700 square-meter plot of land and a house on it in Cipadu Jaya subdistrict of Ciledug, Tangerang. The land and the house is owned by Sofia Alamsyah, who has been living with the defendant for 10 years.

The defendant's action resulted in the National Land Agency issuing Certificate No. 250/2000 on Jan. 27 stating that the ownership of the land and the house had been transferred to the defendant. The action caused Sofia to lose Rp 300 million (US$30,000).

Margono's lawyer Syahril Litoto stated his client would appeal to a higher court soon. -- JP