Students suspected on fake tuition payment bills

Marilin, The Jakarta Post, Depok

Some 184 students at the Social and Political Sciences Institute in Depok are suspected of submitting forged bank receipts as proof of payment for their 2003/2004 academic year tuition.

Students at the institute pay their tuition directly to a bank and receive a stamped receipt, which they then submit to the registrar's office.

The chairman of the institute's Students Legislative Body (BPM), Andi, said on Tuesday the students had been questioned by institute officials and had admitted submitting forged bank receipts.

Several institute employees who asked not to be identified confirmed Andi's statement.

"This has still not been proved, but we have a case. We have no clue who came up with the idea or the motive, but we will hand over the case to the police because it's a crime," said Andi.

The BPM became familiar with the matter only about a week ago, when bank officials reported the problem to the university.

The BPM has set up a special team to investigate the case. The team is scheduled to meet with officials of the institute on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what steps they would take.

However, the institute's deputy rector, Lian Negara Nasution, denied reports that the students had been questioned about the submission of forged bank receipts, saying they were summoned merely to discuss "administrative problems".

There are about 3,000 students at the institute. They pay between Rp 900,000 (US$107) and Rp 2.4 million in yearly tuition.