Student escapes charges, company admits mistakes

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): A Malaysian student escaped charges of telephone fraud after the state owned telecommunication company PT Telkom admitted that it was negligent in installing a faulty international call facility at a public phone.

Malaysian Nurul Anwar, a student at Padjajaran University here, was apprehended by Telkom officials when making a long distance call to Malaysia at a public phone in the university compound.

Officials seized Nurul after receiving reports that Nurul had manipulated a telephone card to make free international connections.

"After being questioned for 40 minutes, Nurul was allowed to go home. It is the fault of PT Telkom employees," Deni M. Aziza, head of PT Multisaka Mitra, a company contracted by the state-own telephone company PT Telkom, said.

According to Deni when Nurul used the telephone chip card to make a long distance call, the telephone displayed "dialed number free" after she pressed the international call connection.

"First she was surprised as the amount in the telephone card did not decrease at all. She then took advantage of that. We let her go as this is totally not her mistake," Deni said.

Deni admitted that there was little control over international connection facilities at public phones. (25)