Sibling jailed for fraud

JAKARTA (JP): The West Jakarta District Court jailed a businessman for one-and-a-half-years and his sister for six months yesterday after they were found guilty of fraud.

The court found Hendrik Tatang, 35, and Vivi Sumawati Tatang, 33, guilty of defrauding six businessmen of Rp 1,117,775,000 (US$465,739) in March and April.

The prosecution said Hendrik and supplied computer equipment to the state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia's (BRI) cooperative

They ordered the equipment and paid for it by check but there was no money in the account.

In his defense statement, Hendrik said he had been cheated by a businessman called Bernando. He said Bernando got a license to supply BRI with computer equipment and asked him to be involved.

Hendrik said he had not met Bernando before and was introduced by a mutual acquaintance.

He said that after he supplied Bernando with the computer equipment he disappeared without paying.

Hendrik said he reported the case to police but Bernado was not caught.

This had made him to pay his counterparts with bad checks, Hendrik said in his recent defense statement.

He said he had never faced such a problem.

Hendrik said he accepted the verdict but Vivi said that she would think over it. (05)